Not on my watch
by Superior of Ice Cream planet
Summary: Redemption isn't something that you get handed to you. But that's good because that's not what I want. I just want to finish what I started and wipe this planet out of the sky. . . Right? I'm starting to question myself. . . You don't need to be a good guy to save the world, you really just need the right motivation.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 or anything related.

A/N: This chapter has been Rewritten since the original post.

Chapter one

A single drop of green liquid dripped down onto the sand. After the Cetra had freed the Planet from Jenova's hold, people relaxed into their homes. Cloud sighed in relief as he realized that any trace of Jenova was probably gone. He wouldn't get too comfortable, for he knew that Jenova was never truly gone. But he knew there wasn't enough of her to come back.

_That's what he thinks._

The small mass of liquid rolled through the sands. Yes, it moved. On it's own. It was microscopic and at the moment, it only had one goal. Find a host and infect it. Without a host, the liquid wasn't a threat, after all. No one would die from getting wet. But this wasn't a normal liquid. It was, in fact, a cluster of Jenova cells that had survived the Cetra's healing rain.

The cluster of cells was Jenova's last chance and she wasn't allowing anyone to stop her. I shouldn't have trusted them in the first place. Sephiroth had been a failure and the remnants too, she should have never trusted them to do her work for her. But they had been eager to please, and she had been lacking a body. She hadn't had much of a choice.

The alien cells moved quickly through the sands towards the crowd of people. A new host in sight.

0.o.0.o.0

Brianna O'Reilly sat down on top of her towel and sighed loudly, "Ah, GAry isn't this fun?" she asked. Gary looked over to her and smiled before throwing an ice cube her way. Brianna screamed as it landed on her legs, "Gary! Don't do that!" she shouted. Her anger was short lived and she ended up laughing, "Throw me a beer."

Gary took out a bottle filled with a yellowish liquid, "You better drink it all." he said, "That's one of the last ones we have." He tossed her the bottle and she caught it.

"We can always get more." she said as she found a bottle opener, "And so what if I don't drink it all?"

"Don't be wasteful Bri." Gary joked as he opened his own body.

Brianna took a sip of her drink and set it down, "I need to tan." she sighed, "I'm so pale."

"Yeah, like those freaky goth kids at school." Gary laughed.

"Don't be so mean to them," Brianna said, "Because when they come to school with guns, you'll be their first target."

"Shut up Bri." Gary rolled his eyes and looked out towards the ocean. He rambled on about how monsters used to come out of the ocean but Brianna stopped listening. She was suddenly feeling sick.

"Oh man Gary, there's something wrong with that beer." she coughed.

"Bri, you're a light head you know that?" Gary rolled his eyes and continued talking.

Bri grasped her throat and coughed, why did it burn so much? This wasn't the first time she had a beer and this had never happened before, "Gary, my throat hurts." she whined.

"Yeah, this beer isn't that great." Gary shook his bottle and took another sip, "Never trust foreign beer."

"I don't think that's it." Brianna said as a tingling sensation washed over her entire body. She raised a hand to her head and started to pull at it, "Get out." she mumbled.

"What the hell?" Gary watched Brianna in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Get it out!" she shouted.

Gary crawled over, "Get what? Is there a bug in your hair?" he asked.

"No. No. NO!" she screamed. Gary looked around and noticed people staring.

"Bri, you're causing a scene." he whispered.

"Maybe." she whispered, "But it's in my head."

"Right, let's go back to our room." Gary said. He lifted her by her shoulders and started towards the hotel, "I guess I shouldn't have given you that beer." Gary mumbled.

"It's not tat! It's not the beer!" Brianna screamed. Gary looked around and entered the hotel lobby.

"Keep quiet." he said. They entered the elevator and Gary immediately pressed 4, "We're almost to our room, then I can help you." Brianna nodded and continued to pull at her hair, "Come on Bri, stop tat." Gary was starting to get concerned. He could remember times when Brianna had gotten crazy after a few drinks, but she'd barely had 2 sips of the beer! Something must have been wrong.

They reached their room and Gary led her to the bed, "Hey, what is it?" he asked, "Tell me." He looked through her hair, "There's nothing in-" he paused. Her hair was changing the golden blonde was greying into a shining silver, "Bri? Your hair." Gary watched breathlessly as Brianna's hair changed.

He lifted her head and looked into her eyes. They were changing too, "Bri, what's happening to you?" he asked in horror, "You're turning into one of those remnants." he said. He recalled the 3 men who'd came into edge a few months ago and kidnapped the children. His little brother had been kidnapped too.

"Gary?" Brianna said weakly. She stood up and blinked, "I don't know what's happening." Bluish green wisps floated from her body and faded into the sky, "But I know I love you." she whispered before collapsing to the ground.

"Bri?" Gary grabbed her and shook her, "Bri? What's wrong with you?" He received no answer, "Bri?"

"Stop screaming in my ear." Brianna answered. Gary sighed in relief before sitting the girl up.

"Is this some joke Bri? Because it's not funny." Gary said.

Brianna looked up at him and smiled. Gary slowly backed away as he noticed how uncharacteristically evil the smile was, "Bri?" he whispered.

"No. I'm not Bri anymore. Your girlfriend or whatever is gone forever." Gary narrowed his eyes.

"What? Stop messing around Bri." he said.

"Brianna is dead." she said coldly, "And if you don't leave, you will be to." Gary back away from her.

"Bri, whenever you're ready to stop this joke, i'll be on the beach." he hurried out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

0.o.0.o.0

The cluster of cells had found a host and the process of taking over had beens surprisingly easy, "It's good to walk again." she said. Brianna O' Reilly had become Jenova's new host.

Jenova walked around the room in her new body. It was perfect. Her body was fit and skinny. She was probably fast too. She spotted a mirror and looked at it, her hair was curled and her eyes were a nice violet shade, "Oh boy, I'm hot." Jenova said. Her eyebrows rose at the comment. She would have never said that had she been in Sephiroth's body. Of course he's only been thinking to please her so she couldn't be affected by any of his thoughts.

Jenova frowned, she wasn't sure if she liked the thought of Brianna's previous personality affecting her. "I suppose I should have put more thought into this." she said to herself. She ran her hand over her abdomen, "I'll adjust." she said. Even though Brianna's soul had been cleared from the body, she had very little control over it. She wondered briefly if she would have the same abilities she'd had in Sephiroth's body. This human hadn't been born with her cells like Sephiroth and his remnants.

She decided to do a quick check. As an alien she'd been able to teleport, but that was awhile ago and she couldn't quite remember how to do it. She'd had a wide variety of abilities but now that she thought about it, it might be a while before she could use them again. She would have to hope that she didn't run into any enemies before her abilities were restored.

A chill ran through her body and she frowned. She was cold and the only thing Brianna had on was a bright blue bikini. She wasn't sure how humans could wear such skimpy things but she wouldn't complain. After all for the last 2,000 years, she had been completely naked.

Jenova stretched her arms and looked around for something to wear. She spotted a large black sweater on the bed and she put it on. It was probably Gary's but it would do until she could find some normal clothes.

She sat down on the bed and thought, she needed to get to the Forgotten City. From there she would be able to put her plan in action. She hadn't exactly worked out the mechanics of the situation but once she got to the Forgotten City, she would be able to. "But if I can't teleport..." she frowned, what was she to do? She couldn't just walk there, she was all the way in... Where was she? There was a beach and she was sure she'd seen the name of the resort on the side of the hotel.

Jenova left the room and decided to steal a car. She herself had never driven one, but maybe she could draw from Brianna's experiences.

As she stepped out onto the beach, she saw Gary sitting down where he was before Brianna's little episode. She smiled as he turned to her, his face the picture of confusion as he watched what used to be his girlfriend walk away.

She hurried down the path and bumped into a boy. She recognized him, well Brianna did, but that wasn't the point. Maybe she could use this kid. She needed a partner and was more then willing to find the last bits of Sephiroth's soul to stuff into this child. "Bri! Want to play ball with me?" the boy asked. Jenova glared down at him. The young boys smile melted away instantly, "Sorry lady, I uh thought you were somebody else." he scurried away and Jenova chuckled. She liked scaring kids.

She walked a little further before she remembered what she wanted to do with the boy. She searched Brianna's fragments of memory for the boys name, "Anthony!" she called, The boy looked over to her, a smile grew onto his face and he rushed over.

"Oh Bri, I thought you were mad at me. For a second you looked different." Anthony said, "You still do."

"Yeah, alcohol does this to you." she shrugged, "Want to get some ice cream?"

"Yeah, let me get my clothes on." Anthony dropped his ball and ran towards the hotel. She frowned as she noticed how slow he was. Did she really want some slow little kid following her around? It might be hazardous, but at any time she could leave him behind. It didn't matter to her.

Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned around. In her face was her biggest enemy, more so then Cloud strife and his gang, "Minerva..." she breathed angrily, "Hw did you."

"It was clear that Minerva had taken on a human body as well. Although she might not have done it the same way she had, it was basically the same thing, "How original of you." she found herself wondering.

Minerva ran a hand through her hair, a move that caused Jenova to roll her eyes, and smiled. Her smile was so w=sweet it made Jenova want to throw up, "Really, you've damaged my planet enough." Her voice was oddly cold despite the warm smile on her face, "Did you really think I would give you another chance to harm it?"

0.o.0.o.0

I've gotten a little better since I originally posted this. I decided to rewrite it. It shouldn't take long and i'll be updating regularly once I finish. Please enjoy this.


	2. Chapter 2

Rewritten and Reuploaded.

Chapter 2

Jenova scowled at the girl in front of her. How had she not thought of the planet sending someone to stop her? "I wasn't going to hurt the Planet." she mumbled.

"No need to lie Jenova, I can read you like a book. We were best friends after all." Minerva said.

Jenova's face twisted in confusion. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Minerva closely, "No way." she said childishly, "We were never friends." her stomach lurched at the though of being best friends with Minerva, "I mean, I hate you." she added.

"Minerva feigned a hurt expression although Jenova could tell that deep inside she was really hurt by the statement. "Well now, have you forgotten already?"

"Forgotten what?" Jenova asked.

Minerva sighed, "It's nothing important." she looked around quickly and brought her eyes back to Jenova, "I'm not leading you harm my planet anymore."

"I told you, that's not why I'm here." Jenova lied again. It was useless though, Minerva already knew of her plans, "I was just going to the Forgotten City to check it out."

"Oh really?" Minerva smiled again, "Can I come?"

"Hell no." Jenova said quickly then she had realized, "I don't like you." She turned and ran. At first she was a little thrown off by her speed, she did not remember ever being this fast. However, her confusion turned to relief as she realized she could lose Minerva easier by running. She was not strong enough for a fight and she was sure that was what the goddess wanted.

After a minute of running she stopped. They were not on the beach anymore and Jenova was glad, "Take that Minerva." she said triumphantly.

"Take what?" Minerva's sickly sweet voice rang in her ears. Jenova's eyes widened and she turned around.

"What the hell, come on." she muttered, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Well I certainly can't run as fast as you, I can still teleport." Minerva smiled, "I have all of my abilities still." Minerva put emphasis on the word all. Yeah, Jenova didn't stand a chance.

"How were you able to keep your abilities?" Jenova asked suspiciously

"This is my planet, I can bend the rules a little." she said, "And I put a little thought into who I chose as a host." Jenova frowned; she had not put any at all. She had not really been able to. As a cluster of cells, all of her thoughts were basic. Brianna had looked healthy and was chosen for that reason only.

"Your planet?" Jenova growled. A light flickered on in her head as an idea formed, "You tricked me."

Minerva's sugar sweet smile disappeared, "Yes I did." she said absently.

"How can you act all high and mighty knowing that you tricked your best friend? Your only friend really." Jenova asked.

"So you do remember." Minerva frowned

"Damn right I do." Jenova snapped.

_"Just choose one Jenny." Minerva said impatiently. They had been in the room looking over a map for over an hour. They were looking at planets to choose. After they had chosen one, they would go to the planet and gather information. Minerva knew what she wanted, but Jenova was being extremely fussy._

_"I'll take as long as I want." Jenova said calmly, "This is serious business." Minerva watched her fried read over the descriptions of Planets before pausing on one. "This one here looks nice."_

_Minerva shoo her head, "Professor says that it isn't. It's the worst." Minerva said. He accidentally wrote the wrong description." she said._

_Jenova frowned, "Oh? It sounded nice." she sighed. Minerva inwardly sighed in relief. The planet Jenova had almost chosen was called Gaia. It was a beautiful planet filled with people that were similar to her own. Cetra. Although the Cetra on Gaia were probably different from the ones here, they would be familiar. "How about this?" Jenova pointed to another planet. It was close to Gaia, a sister planet called Gaea._

_Gaea was the exact opposite of Gaia. It was dark and filled with strange creatures. From what Minerva knew about it, the people were evil, the sun did not shine, and on top of that, the men treated the woman and children like dirt. "You don't want that either." Minerva said._

_"Why not?" Jenova asked, "There's no description."_

_"Yeah, so there probably won't be much there." Minerva said. She looked over the map and pointed out another planet, "Earth! How about that?" she suggested._

_"Nah, I'll go with Gaea." she decided. Minerva swallowed._

_"Are you sure?" she asked._

_"Yup, it won't be to hard." she shrugged, "We leave next week."_

_"Hey, maybe since our planets are so close we can visit each other." Minerva suggested. However, she knew that deep inside, if she ever saw Jenova again. She would not be the same girl she had become friends with._

"I didn't put much thought into it." Minerva sighed.

"No, you didn't." Jenova crossed her arms, "And I'm not forgiving you. I'm going to kill you and destroy this planet."

"This is about revenge?" Minerva asked, "What about the whole sail the cosmos thing?"

"Ah, no clue really." Jenova admitted, "That was a little over the top."

"I'm sorry Jenova, but I can't let you destroy this planet." Minerva sighed, "I've got a reputation and it's already been quite damaged by your constant attacks. Holy is not pleased with me."

"Holy? Is that your boyfriend?" Jenova asked.

"No. Holy is a summon that I found when I first came to this planet." Minerva explained, "She wouldn't be pleased if I continued to let the planet be harmed."

"Really? A summon? You take orders from a summon?" Jenova rolled her eyes. The entire concept was silly. Why would you listen to someone who could not escape a little orb without help? "Yeah, I'm done with you." she waved her hand and turned around.

"Where are you going?" Minerva asked.

"What's it matter to you?" Jenova asked, "You're not my mom."

"Jenova, I meant what I said. I'm not going to allow another attempt to destroy the planet." Minerva stepped forward.

"The only way to stop me would be to kill me." Jenova said, "Do you really want to do that? Especially after what you put me through?" If she was correct, Minerva's human emotions would get to her before she could think about it.

"I…" Minerva bit her lip, "I won't kill you. I'll follow you, until you change your mind." She took another step forward, "Maybe we could rule this planet together."

Jenova frowned at the suggestion. She was unsure if it was a trap or a half-planned attempt to redeem herself, "No thank you. I don't really like you. I plan to destroy you like you allowed them to do to me."

"Regardless of if we were friends before," Minerva swallowed, "I can't let you harm my planet. Right now, you're weak. Any human can kill you and so can I."

"I'll recover my strength eventually." Jenova said, "Or, I guess you could help me destroy the planet."

"No." Minerva said instantly. Jenova shrugged, she didn't need Minerva at all. She started to run, she was pretty sure Minerva would follow her but at least while running she could think. She knew where the Forgotten City was and strangely, she knew where to go. All she had to do was get there and she would get there.

Unintentionally, her mind wandered to Minerva. They had been inseparable before and now, Minerva was ready to kill her over a stupid planet. She chuckled softly, technically she was too. But she had a far deeper reason. She needed revenge for what they did to her.

Her face heated and her chest tingled, Jenova raised a hand to her heart and blinked. She wasn't sure about human emotions but she was sure she was feeling… sad?

She stopped suddenly as images flashed through her mind. They went far too fast for her to even begin to examine them but she knew what they were. Memories. A past she'd buried long ago.

Minerva. The Cetra. Gaea. All of the images smashed into her mind, it seemed as if her mind was trying to remember everything at once. Everything was a blur of distorted voices and flashing images.

Jenova fell to her knees and held her head in a manor similar to the way Brianna had before she'd lost her body. She had a headache, or maybe one would call it a migraine. Her head felt like it was going to explode. An agonized groan escaped her lips,"Stop…" she didn't know whom she was talking to although she had a feeling her command was thrown at Minerva. Minerva… If she was doing this… "Stop!" she screamed.

She felt someone touching her, multiple people actually. It was as if she was reliving the very moment she'd crashed down onto Gaea. She felt their hands, their breath, and she heard their dark chuckles. She closed her eyes, was it her human body that was making her feel so scared?

"Help!" she cried out. But to who? Who was she expecting to help her? "Minerva? Please." she begged. Deep inside she was cursing herself for being so pathetic. Minerva was not going to help her and she didn't want her to.

Her chest exploded in pain and she opened her eyes, she was bleeding. But how? Was she being attacked? Her eyes widened as she realized that whatever was happening in her memories was happening now. And she could feel it all.

She felt the bullets pierce her skin.

The knives cutting mercilessly into her body.

She felt her legs being forced apart…

"No! No please!" she cried. She was going to die, and perhaps for good this time. There would be nothing left of her if her own memories wiped her out. But how long would it take? How long would she have to squirm in pain on the ground? Maybe this was how all of her victims felt as she tortured them. What a horrible feeling.

"Oh my…" she heard Minerva breath.

Jenova blinked and looked around, "Minerva… help me…" she said weakly. The pain increased as she saw the goddess.

"What?" Minerva asked. Jenova swallowed and closed her eyes. Minerva was probably going to watch her die…

Minerva kneeled down next to Jenova and blinked. How had this happened? Jenova had been out of her sight for less then 3 minutes! "What?" she repeated, this time to herself. She knew what was happening to Jenova and she knew she could stop it. But should she? This was her chance to get rid of Jenova for good. In fact, she could end it right now to save herself future trouble. But she was a goddess, and she couldn't brig herself to do it.

She examined the bruises and cuts all over Jenova and was actually surprised to see more forming. She gasped a little when a hole exploded on her arm, "I'm sorry." she whispered as she stood, "But I can't help you." Her heart fluttered as she turned and left Jenova squirming on the ground.

"NO!" Jenova screamed,"Don't leave me! I'll do anything!"

Minerva paused; she stared at Jenova through narrowed eyes and smirked. This could work out for her, "Anything?" she repeated.

"Yes…" Jenova whispered, "Anything…"

"Perfect." Minerva smiled sweetly as she made her way back to the dying girl, "Listen up."

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova opened her eyes slowly, was she dead? She couldn't see a thing and assumed that she had probably been rejected from Minerva's life stream and was now floating somewhere. She lifted her arm and gasped as her entire body erupted in pain. "Still alive…" she groaned. She was definitely alive. But why wouldn't she be? She had begged Minerva and promised to do anything if she saved her. "Damn." she whispered angrily.

"You're awake." she heard Minerva say.

"Where am I?' Jenova tried to look around without moving her neck, but that only gave her a limited plain to search for Minerva.

"This is where you wanted to go." Minerva stepped out in front of her, "This is the Forgotten City." Jenova blinked and tried to focus. Her vision was far too blurred for her to actually see anything/

"What did I agree to do?" she closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles.

"Nothing much." Minerva laughed, "You just signed a contract agreeing to do whatever I say."

"When?" Jenova asked suspiciously.

"A little before you passed out." Minerva said. A yellow rectangle materialized in her hand and Jenova squinted at it. That must have been the contract, a spiritual contract. She didn't know much about them but she knew she wouldn't be able to break it. "The moment you go against my wishes, your soul will be terminated."

"Terminated…" Jenova growled. This put a damper on her plans. She wouldn't be able to destroy a fly without Minerva killing her.

"After we're done though, I'll consider letting you go." Minerva said.

"Done with what?" Jenova closed her eyes. Trying to focus her vision hurt far too much.

"Brianna wants her body back Jenova. Her soul was very strong and has manifested inside of Ruby WEAPON." Minerva said, "In doing that, she awakened the other weapons and they're all following her blindly."

"So?" Jenova mumbled. Why would she care about that?

"She's hunting you down and she will kill you." Minerva said, "And considering the fact that you were just screaming and begging me to save you…"

"Shut up." Jenova snapped.

"Yeah, we have to stop them." Minerva said.

"How?" Jenova asked.

"I don't know." Minerva admitted. Jenova sighed, if Minerva didn't know how to stop her own creations, then they were doomed.

"We'll kill them once I recover my strength." Jenova decided.

Minerva shook her head, "No, they would still be far too strong for us to handle. Our human bodies have limits." she sighed, "But we could start preparing for an encounter now."

"How?" Jenova asked. She couldn't move without her body exploding in pain, what preparations could she do? "Can you heal me?" she asked. She wasn't sure if Minerva would do it, but if she was really bound by a contract then Minerva would have no reason to worry about an attack right?

"No. I can't seem to do that." Minerva sighed.

"What?" Jenova opened her eyes. Her vision was a pinch sharper but she still couldn't see.

"Jenova," Minerva whispered suddenly, "What happened to you? What did they do to you?"

Jenova felt anger bubbling in her stomach, "You know what they did to me!" she shouted, "You knew before I left what would happen, but you didn't even try to stop me." Minerva looked away and Jenova inwardly smirked in triumph.

"Please Jenova. We were children." she said.

"That doesn't make it right." Jenova mumbled angrily, "You had to know what you were doing was wrong." It seemed strange to be preaching about wrongs and rights when she wanted to destroy a planet full of innocent people because she was mad at Minerva.

"I was wrong. I put what I wanted before your safety and I'm sorry." Minerva said, her voice oozed with sincerity and Jenova rolled her eyes, "Can you forgive me?"

"Hell no." she snapped, "Not today at least." she added quietly.

Minerva swallowed and nodded, "Let's get inside. You need rest." she said softly, "Do you need help?"

"No." Jenova answered. She tried to push herself up and she collapsed in pain. She looked down at herself and noticed Minerva had used pieces of Gary's sweater to patch up the many wounds that had appeared recently. They weren't doing much though. She managed to get herself into a sitting position and she leaned back onto an unknown object, "What happened?" she asked, "Did you do this to me?"

"No." Minerva sounded a bit offended at the idea, "But I believe your memories finally caught up with you. You never actually had your own host just someone with your cells that you could control. But now that you do, your memories are coming back to you." Jenova watched her suspiciously as she stepped closer to her. She helped her stand and looped her arm around her waist. Jenova flinched at the unwanted contact but let it be, "I found a really nice house for us, the beds haven't been used in years but it'll do."

Jenova limped along with Minerva. She tried to ignore the pain but it was too much. Several times, she collapsed onto Minerva and had to struggle to stand again. She felt weak enough already and she didn't want Minerva to know exactly how weak she was. She closed her eyes and swallowed, if she could ignore the pain long enough to get into the house she would be okay.

"You're really hurt. Should I get something for the pain?"

"We don't have money." Jenova muttered.

"I have around 200 gil." Minerva said,"I think I can find a potion for that much." Jenova felt the ground beneath her change from dirt to stone; they must have been inside of the house now, "Here sleep." She fell down onto a hard bed and groaned/ Minerva whispered an apology before leaving the room.

Jenova adjusted herself onto the bed and sighed, she needed to figure out a way to get around Minerva's contract. But she would need to heal first. "Minerva?" she called.

"Yes?" Minerva answered.

"What happens if the weapons come while we are asleep?" she asked.

"They don't know where we are and I know that they aren't anywhere near us. We have time." Minerva answered. Jenova sighed and passed out again. Minerva looked down at the girl and smiled. She'd known Jenova wouldn't be able to complete her task. She'd run out of competent hosts and the one she'd chosen now was doing nothing but limiting her abilities. Moreover, Jenova had signed the contract; the only way to be released from it was through redemption. Once Minerva felt she'd paid for her crimes, she would release her. By then, any thoughts about destroying the planet would be gone.

She closed her eyes and went to find a bed to sleep in. She would put her plan together tomorrow.

0.o.0.o.0

Rewritten. I'm somewhat afraid that I'm changing too much but it's all right. There will only be added scenes every now and then and they won't affect the plot at all.

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Rewritten and Reuploaded.

Chapter 3

_She watched the blonde girl roll through the grass and giggle. She didn't know how people could have so much fun by themselves. It didn't make sense. "Hey I know you!" the girl spotted her and immediately rolled her way, "We're in the same class."_

_"Yeah. You're the teachers daughter." she said_

_"That's right! And you're Jenova." Minerva said,"Our names are really close together. They both have a V and an A at the end." Jenova nodded and looked away. She looked down at the grass and plucked random blades. Maybe Minerva would go away if she ignored her._

_"So why are you all alone?" Minerva asked curiously._

_"I like being alone." Jenova mumbled._

_"No you don't." Minerva said, "No one likes being alone."_

_"I do." Jenova said. She tried not to sound annoyed, this girl was being nice to her after all._

_"Nope." Minerva shook her head, "But anyway, tomorrow is our bug day! We get to choose our career paths. My mom told me about all the choices."_

_"Yeah." Jenova sighed, this girl wasn't going away anytime soon._

_"You know, there's one class where you get to leave the planet! And study things from other planets." Minerva said, "I'm choosing that one."_

_"Me too." Jenova found herself saying. She hadn't actually put much thought into what class she wanted but she'd take anything that would get her away from the judge people on her home planet._

_"That's nice, we'll be in the same class!" Minerva laughed, "That's good."_

_"Yeah I guess." Jenova agreed._

_"I wonder what languages they speak there. Maybe the speak the same one as we do!" Minerva's eyes widened at the idea, "What if they live just like us?"_

_"I guess that wouldn't be very fun." she shrugged. What would be the point of leaving one planet to go to one that's exactly the same._

_"Yeah, you're right." Minerva said, "Why don't I see you playing with the other girls? You're always sitting here alone."_

_"They don't like me." Jenova said, "I'm to different."_

_"Different is good." Minerva said. Jenova shook her head. It wasn't good to be this different. Everybody else had shiny blonde hair and nice tan skin. She had disturbingly grey skin and silver hair. On top of that, her hands and feet were covered in purple splotches. She looked strange. "It's nice to be unique." Minerva said._

_"Do you see this?" Jenova asked, "My hands are purple!" she held up her hands and wiggled her fingers, "My skin looks blue and my eyes are weird and glowy."_

_"But they look pretty." Minerva commented. Jenova sighed and looked away. Minerva wouldn't understand. She looked like everyone else. "Oh but if it really worries you, I have some gloves at home that you can borrow."_

_"It's fine." she muttered._

_"No! I bet if you didn't dress so weird people would like you." Minerva decided, "You should dress like me." Jenova wrinkled her nose, Minerva wore a lot of bright colors and all of her clothes seemed too big for her. Also, Minerva didn't have any friends, so how would she know what to do to get some?_

_"I don't know…" Jenova said slowly, "I like what I wear."_

_"Come on! You can have my old clothes." Minerva got up and grabbed her hand. Jenova started to pull away but found herself being dragged behind Minerva._

_0.o.0.o.0._

_Jenova stood in line patiently behind Minerva, she rubbed the smooth fabric of her graduation gown and sighed. Everyone was chattering senselessly about what career they wanted. From what she was hearing, no one wanted to leave their planet. That meant she and Minerva would be the only ones in the class._

_"Do you hear that?" Minerva turned and asked, "All that cheering."_

_"Yeah, I hear it." Jenova sighed._

_"My mom is going to be so proud of me." Minerva said happily, "What about yours?"_

_Jenova shook her head, "My parents don't care." she said. She braced herself for Minerva's oncoming rant._

_"Oh my god! They do care Jenova they do!" Minerva said, "Some parents say they don't but really they do!"_

_"I suppose they'll clap because because they're finally getting rid of me." Jenova said. Minerva didn't quite understand that her parents didn't like her. She was undeniable proof that her mother had an affair with someone and they hated her for it._

_"I heard your real dad killed himself because he was so ugly." a girl said. Jenova bit her lip and looked down, she was just going to ignore this girl._

_"Shut up you-" Minerva stopped_

_"You what?" the girl asked, "Where you going to insult me?"_

_"Just shut up." Minerva said._

_"Go jump off a bridge you freak." the girl said. Jenova flinched at the insult and sighed as the girl walked out onto the stage._

_"She's an idiot." Minerva said, "Really, she passed class with a D."_

_"Yeah." Jenova noticed how close she was to the front of the line. After Minerva, she would walk onto the stage. Minerva said something but Jenova was too nervous to hear it. The next thing she noticed was Minerva skipping into stage. Her heart almost stopped as they called her name. She would have to walk out and look at a crowd of people who probably hated her… "Here we go." she whispered as she stepped onto stage._

_0.o.0.o.0_

Jenova awoke and blinked, she still couldn't see a thing. She wanted to call out to Minerva but instantly swallowed the idea. Just because she felt like she was dying didn't mean she had to automatically call for the goddess.

She lifted her arm with a grunt and rubbed her eyes. She was hoping to return some of her vision but it did nothing. "Stupid human body." she whispered. It wouldn't have hurt so much if she was in Sephiroth's body. But his was no longer available to her so she'd have to deal with the pain.

She closed her eyes again, deciding that sleep was the best thing to do for now.

_0.o.0.o.0_

_"I can't believe there's only 2 people in this class." Minerva said. Jenova frowned at the thought of being with Minerva for 5 years. "It's a good thing we're friends." Minerva said, "Or else this would be really awkward."_

_"It kind of is." Jenova mumbled. Minerva was very annoying and intrusive which made everything she did awkward. "Wait. Friends?" Jenova questioned. When did they become friends? Did Minerva even know what a friends was?_

_"Yeah, we have to be friends." Minerva said, "I wonder what our first lesson is." Minerva bounced with excitement._

_"Maybe flying?" Jenova suggested._

_"Nah, I don't think so." Minerva said thoughtfully, "Who would want to teach a child how to fly?"_

_"He has to at some point." Jenova shrugged, that would probably come last. The door creaked open and an old man entered the room. He set a stack of books down on the table and sighed. He muttered something about back problems and stared at the two girls._

_"What do we have here?" he eyed Jenova curiously, "I've never seen a live one before."_

_"A live what?" Minerva asked. Jenova slumped in her seat and sighed, why was he looking at her._

_"My name is Professor Rosch, it's nice to meet you." the man walked over and casually held out his hand, "What is your name?"_

_"Jenova." she answered._

_"Allow me to ask a few questions." Professor Rosch cleared his throat, "What is it like to be a Zendorian?"_

_"A what?" Minerva asked. Jenova mirrored her new friends confusion._

_"I don't know." she said._

_"I suppose they would keep this from you." Professor Rosch lowered his hand in disappointment, "Zendorians are a race made specifically to search and destroy. So far, we are the only planet to survive an attack from one. I suppose you escaped your planet before the search and destroy factor set in."_

_"But I've lived here my entire life." Jenova said._

_"How strange." Professor Rosch muttered, "Let's get on with the lessons."_

_Jenova sighed in relief as her teacher walked away and began to write something on the board. She had no idea what he was talking about but the idea of being from another planet was interesting. What if she had another family somewhere else? A family that would love her and be happy to see her when she got home from school…_

_"Pay attention Jenny." Minerva whispered. Jenova sighed, only in her dreams would something like that be possible. She sat up straight and began to copy the notes written on the board into a notebook._

_**One week before departure**_

_"What do you think it would be like?" Minerva asked as they walked home, "To ride in space."_

_"Boring." Jenova shrugged, "You'll be floating in space for a while with nothing to do."_

_"Yeah." Minerva agreed, "But it'll be worth it to get to our new planets._

_"I hope so." Jenova said. There was a hint of eagerness in her voice, she wanted to leave this planet as soon as she could. She didn't even stop to think about the fact that people on her new planet wouldn't be so welcoming of her._

_"Hey! Ice cream!" Minerva shouted suddenly, "Let's get some!" Minerva ran towards an ice cream shop. Jenova recognized this as one that made unique flavors. She hurried to catch up with her friend, "I want ketchup flavored ice cream."_

_"What? That sounds gross." Jenova stuck her tongue out, "I'll just have vanilla."_

_"How boring." Minerva ordered their ice cream and watched eagerly as the ice cream man prepared it._

_"Hey Minerva, why did you come up to me that day?" Jenova asked._

_"Because you looked so sad." Minerva shrugged, "I was pretty bored too."_

_"Yeah? Is that it?" Jenova asked, "Well, thanks for that."_

_"Yeah." Minerva said. She got their ice cream and stared at it blankly, "Um, I have to go." she dumped the ice cream in the trash and ran off. Jenova watched her curiously, she'd been acting strange since they'd chosen their planets. What was she hiding?_

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova woke up again, this time she could see a small glow somewhere. Of course it was still blurred. She closed her eyes and thought of her previous dreams. Since she'd taken a human body she'd had nothing but dreams about her past. And the dreams seemed to be going in order. She was sure the next time she slept, she would dream of her arrival on Gaea… That was the last thing she wanted to remember.

"Ow." she said loudly. Her voice echoed through out the room and she sighed. Where was Minerva? Didn't she say she was going to find something to heal her with? "Stupid Minerva." she blinked and looked up at the ceiling. There were several drawings of moons and stars and a few sentences that she couldn't make out with her blurred vision. There was a sudden bang and Jenova glanced towards the door nervously.

Was it a weapon? Minerva said they wouldn't be able to find her anytime soon, or maybe that was a lie. Maybe she wanted her to let her guard down and be attacked. Not that it would matter, she was critically injured and couldn't defend herself.

Jenova bit her lip and sat up, she was in a lot more pain then she remembered but she was not going to allow whatever was out there to find her. She squinted at the glowing object just outside of the door and took a deep breath. If that was a weapon, then she was doomed. They were a lot closer to her then she liked.

With a grunt, she managed to swing her legs out of the bed. There was another bang and Jenova felt her heart race with panic. It wasn't her that was panicked, she decided, it was her human body. "Who's there?" she called towards the light. There was no answer. Jenova placed her feet on the floor and stood.

She wobbled a little and tried to take a step. She failed and tumbled to the ground, tremors of pain shook her body and she groaned. She pushed herself up and grabbed onto the bed, "Minerva?" she called.

"What?" came the uncharacteristically angry response. She noticed Minerva entering the room with a flashlight, "Did you fall out of bed?"

"No, I heard something and tried to see what it was." she answered, "Where were you?"

"I went to get something." Minerva answered, "I couldn't find a potion so I just got you something to eat."

"Food?" Jenova asked eagerly, "What kind?" When was the last time she tasted food? It had to be about 2,000 years or something like that.

"It's fried chocobo." Minerva said with a frown, "It was pretty cheap."

"Chocobo?" Jenova asked, "You mean the giant birds?"

"Yeah." Minerva searched the bag for the food, "I'm not sure how it tastes though, I haven't had food in a long time." Minerva sighed a she found the slightly greasy box, "It doesn't look too appetizing."

"Hand it over, I'm starving." Jenova struggled back into bed and sighed, "It's like Brianna didn't eat." Minerva handed her an unusually greasy piece of fried chocobo. Jenova frowned and sniffed it, the aroma made her stomach growl, "This looks horrible." she commented as she took a bite. Her eyes widened unintentionally and she swallowed it, "Oh wow, it's so nummy!' she said gleefully. Her glee instantly twisted into confusion. What did she just say?

"Nummy." Minerva repeated before taking a bite of her own piece, "It's not very good. I mean, this is an animal we're eating."

"Why would you buy it if you have such a problem with eating animals?" Jenova asked.

"It never crossed my mind. It'd been so long since I ate that I let my human mind convince me to buy it." Minerva shrugged and Jenova smirked, at least she wasn't the only ones being affected by her human body.

"What else did you get?" Jenova glanced towards the bag.

"Nothing. Just a work uniform." Minerva said, "I have a job and it starts Monday."

"Monday? How the hell did you get a job so fast? You were only gone for a few hours." Jenova said. At least she thought so, she was asleep for a while and had no idea how long the other girl was gone.

"I messed with the owners mind a little, he thinks I've been working there for a month." Minerva said, "If all goes right, I should get paid tomorrow and we can go."

"Go where?" Jenova asked. She wasn't ready to be moving long distances.

"To Edge, I think we'll be needing Cloud's help with this." Minerva answered.

"He'll kill me. I think we'll be fine without him." Jenova decided.

"He's fought weapon before," Minerva said, "He can help us."

"But he'll kill me, and it's not part of my plan to die." Jenova said.

"And what is your plan?" Minerva asked, "To destroy the planet?"

"Well of course." Jenova answered as she reached for more chicken, "Although I'm unsure what to do after that."

"Use this planet as a vessel to find another planet to destroy?" Minerva suggested.

"I suppose that'll have to do, but if they cause as much trouble for me as the people here did, then I'll find a new career." Jenova sighed.

"Right," Minerva rolled her eyes, "We'll be going to find Cloud after you've recovered enough to walk."

"Walk? No car?" Jenova asked.

"We'd have to go into town to find a car and the weapons would find us then." Minerva said, "I want to stay as far away from people as possible."

"Why?" Jenova asked.

"I don't want anybody to get hurt." Minerva said.

"Who cares? They're just people." Jenova said with a shrug, "What does it matter if they die?"

"I care if they get hurt. This is still my planet and I have to protect the people on it." Minerva stood up, "I can't expect you to understand this." She left the room, taking the only source of light with her. Jenova blinked after her and sighed. She was never going to understand why Minerva felt so much for the people on Gaia. She'd grown up hating everyone and she still did.

"Whatever." Jenova tried to get comfortable on the dusty bed. She was going to sleep again and she was probably going to have a nightmare, "Might as well get it over with." she muttered as she fell asleep.

0.o.0.o.0

_"Are you ready?" Professor Rosch asked. Jenova glanced at Minerva who was going out of her way to avoid eye contact with her. The other girl nodded and Jenova did the same, "Wonderful, get into your ships."_

_Jenova walked towards her ship slowly, she was a little nervous about going into space, but she'd live. She got into it and buckled up, "Good luck Minnie." she said to the other girl Minerva looked to her and nodded._

_"Yeah, you too." Minerva sighed and then began whispering something to Professor Rosch. Jenova looked over her controls and thought about how strange Minerva had acted for the last week. Was it because she was nervous? Or was there something she was hiding._

_"How long will it take to get there?" Minerva asked._

_"It depends on how far the planet is." Professor Rosch said, "It could take anything from a few hours to a few days._

_"I hope it takes a while," Minerva glanced nervously at Jenova, "I'm a little nervous."_

_"Me too." Jenova agreed, "I have no idea what it's going to be like on that planet."_

_"I've input the coordinated into each of your ships. All you need to do is fly out into space and flick the switch that says 'auto', the ship will do the rest for you." Professor Rosch pressed a button and their doors began to close. Minerva cast a nervous smile at Jenova before the doors closed completely._

_Jenova sat back as her ship purred to life, "Here we go." she whispered to herself. She took a breath and closed her eyes as the ship took off into the sky._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_2 days later, she landed on Gaea. She looked out of the window and saw nothing but a dark wasteland. She blinked and fiddled with the radio settings, "Professor? Can you here me?" There was static, and a very distant reply. "I'm here on Gaea, but I can't see anything." she said, "I think the ship went to the wrong place."_

_"No, this is the planet you chose. The land of the Zendorians." Professor Rosch answered._

_Jenova's eyes widened, "What? The killing machines that you told me about? Am I really expected to make nice with them?"_

_"I assumed you were aware of your destination." Rosch said._

_"No, I thought… Minerva said…" she stopped. How could she have been stupid enough to head to a planet she knew nothing about? Minerva had told her it would be empty so maybe she assumed that it would be fine._

_"If you aren't able to handle it, I suppose you take off right now." Professor Rosch said, "Quickly."_

_Jenova looked down at the control panel and began readying for take of, there was a long beep once she pressed a button and she frowned, "It says I'm out of fuel." she said. There was silence on the other end of the radio, "Professor?"_

_"I'm sorry Jenova, I assumed you wanted to return to your origins." Rosch said before the radio seemingly fizzled out of contact. Jenova gulped and looked out of the window, in the distance was a dull violet glow._

_"This won't be bad.." she told herself, maybe they would welcome her in. They would be the family she always wanted, they would love her. She tried to convince herself as the glow grew larger. Whatever was glowing was getting closer. She squinted and made out the body of what was moving towards her._

_It was a tall creature with large wings and several tentacles that stretched in all directions. Jenova watched it intently as it seemed to morph into a humanoid form that looked surprisingly similar to hers. It had blue skin with purple veins stretching over its limbs. It was muscular and covered in a strange black liquid._

_It advanced towards her ship with unusual speed and smiled at her. Jenova gasped as she saw rows of sharp teeth that were covered in the same black liquid on it's body. It's eyes were glowing violet orbs and it had shoulder length silver hair. It's body seemed to struggle to maintani it's human form and several tenticles burst from it's body._

_The tentacles smashed into window of her ship and she pressed herself deeper into her seat. She was scared, and she didn't want it to get in. "Stay away from me.." she found herself whispering as the tentacles broke through the window. One wrapped around her arm and yanked her forward. She yelped and tried to detach the tentacle from her arm. It held on tightly and even managed to pull her out of her seatbelt. She yanked bak and screamed as another tentacle wrapped around her other arm._

_She was pulled from the seat and onto the ground. She struggled with the tentacles as more wrapped around her legs. "Let go!" she screamed. It was then that she noticed the crowds of people coming towards her. Their eyes glowing violently as they closed in on her. She screamed again as several deformed hands latched onto her and began to pull her in different directions. "Let go!" she screamed again.. Her voice was laced with agony, they were ripping her apart…_

"Wake up!" she felt Minerva's hand connect with her face and her eyes snapped open. She pushed the gurl away from her and glared at her.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked angrily.

"What? You were just screaming your lungs out, I thought you were hurt." Minerva said with just as much anger.

"I am hurt Minerva." she reminded, "And I was just having a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Minerva asked, "Are you alright?"

"I just relived 14 years of torture in 5 minutes. My body feels like it's dying and if I even think about moving I almost pass out in pain, I'm peachy." She snapped.

"Right, I'll let you sleep." Minerva stood up and left her alone. Jenova glared at the doorway for a long time before sighing. She wouldn't be sleeping again that night, which was okay. It would give her time to think of a way around the contract.

0.o.0.o.0

Another one down, this one isn't much better then the original but it'll do. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Minerva fastened the buttons on her uniform quickly. She wasn't sure how long she would have to work before she was paid but she was tempted to work an entire shift. She needed time to sort out the other days events and working at a fast food place would give her a little time.

She would be working in Gongaga at one of the only fast food places. A lot of them had sprang up after Jenova's last attempt for reunion but Gongaga only had a few. The people liked to stick to more traditional cooking. Minerva smiled as she thought of the progress the town had made since the reactor exploded and almost killed everyone. The town was larger and several small shops had been set up. "Jenova!" she called, "I'm leaving." she was sure the other girl didn't care but still felt the need to let her know.

"Where?" Jenova replied weakly.

"To work, I told you I had a job." she answered. There was no reply as she finished getting ready, "I'll be back soon."

"I want to come." Jenova said. Minerva blinked and entered the room Jenova was in.

"You can't." she said, "You're still hurt and I need you to rest before we have to go."

"What if I follow you?" Jenova asked.

"You wouldn't be able to." Minerva said. She was pretty sure Jenova was just being difficult, they both knew she was too damaged to even leave the room.

"I don't want to stay here." Jenova said.

"Well too bad." Minerva crossed her arms, "If you can get up then maybe you can explore the area."

"Yeah but-" Jenova stopped, "Yeah, get out of here."

Minerva rolled her eyes and left the room. Gongaga was a few hours away on foot, but she was teleporting and it would take a few seconds. She closed her eyes and focused, she didn't want to leave Jenova alone but at the same time, she did. "It's only for a few hours." she said as she teleported away.

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova stared up at the ceiling, her vision was finally returning and she could make out what the sentences on the ceiling were, "When the war of the beast brings about the world's end." She stopped after reading the sentence and sighed. It was the stupid poem that Genesis read a lot. "Yuck." Jenova said as she thought about how much the man had wanted to please Minerva.

She sat up and was surprised at how numb her body felt. She still felt a little pain here and there but it was manageable. She swung her legs out of bed and tried to stand, it didn't hurt too much. She stood and smiled, she hadn't expected to heal so quickly. "This is perfect." that meant she could go to Gongaga and bother Minerva. She took a step and frowned at how unbalanced she was. It would be fixed with time, but at the moment it was annoying.

She made her way to the room Minerva was staying in and found the clothes she'd worn the night before. She took off Gary's ripped sweater and put on the other girls clothes. She frowned at the amount of white she was wearing, she liked black a lot more.

She felt the pain returning to her body and she sighed as the numbness sleep had brought her faded away. She would have to sit down before her body gave in and collapsed on itself. With a small grunt she rushed back to her room and sat down on the bed. She hated her new body, it was so limiting.

Usually, she would be healed and ready to go in an hour, but now she had to heal like a human. Upon examination she could see that her wounds had begun to heal, and a lot quicker then most humans, but still at a slow pace. Still, she wanted to be healed so she could get away from Minerva.

"Damn humans." she muttered to herself. Brianna wasn't the best host she could choose. The girl was weak and dumb. She didn't seem to know anything about anything. Sephiroth had been a smart person who'd even made himself smarter for her sake. But no, now she would have to do it on her own. Maybe then she would stop using words like 'nummy'.

She stood up and felt her body wobble in pain. She stepped forward and decided that if she just ran, she'd get there fast enough and could rest later on. She took a deep breath and started to run. Her entire body screamed for her to stop but she didn't. She was tired of being weak and she needed to do this. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she breached the barrier that separated the Ancient Forest from the rest of the continent. Her body slowed and she almost stopped, but instead she pushed herself onward.

"Which way?" she asked herself. Gongaga was south of the forest right? Was she going the right way? She was running up, so no she wasn't. She needed to be going South-east. She turned and started back for the forest, she wasn't sure how long she could keep running. She was pushing her limits at the moment and her body was ready to give up. She ran a little further before she collapsed to the ground, "Ow…" she mumbled as she rolled over and stared at the sky.

She decided to stay like that for a while. A small part of her regretted the fact that she left the forest. Another part was glad that she'd left. This was a small step towards breaking away from Minerva's contract. Then she could destroy the goddess' planet and leave. Maybe she would leave Minerva behind and let her float in space all alone. That sounded nice.

_'Of course it sounds nice, you're one of them aren't you?'_

Jenova blinked, that wasn't her voice. Well, it was her voice. But it wasn't Brianna's voice. All of her inner thoughts had sounded like Brianna since she'd taken that body, so why was she hearing her old voice? "What do you mean?" she found herself asking the voice.

_'It's your nature to search and destroy.'_

"No." Jenova shook her head, "It's not. It's their nature not mine. I only want revenge, that's what this is about."

_'Don't try to hide it. We are the same person, I know what you wanted when you crashed onto this planet 2,000 years ago. Revenge didn't cross your mind. You had just broken away from Gaea and their ways were etched into your mind. The only reason you changed your mind was because you were human'_

"You don't know what you're talking about." Jenova said. Technically, she'd just told herself that she didn't know what she was talking about, but no one was around to hear that.

_'You spent 14 years on Gaea, being on your home planet cause your body to mold back into it's natural form Even your mind changed to suit their ways'_

"Who cares, I have a goal and I'm going to meet it." Jenova said angrily, "Who cares why I did it before? All that matters is why I'm doing it now."

_You won't be able to, you're human now. You have emotions and no matter how hard you try to ignore them, they will always get in the way. And stupidly, you signed a spiritual contract with Minerva, even if you did want to destroy the planet, your soul would disappear.'_

"So what, she'll let me go as soon as we destroy those weapons." Jenova said.

_If she keeps her word that is._

"No," Jenova sat up, "Minerva wouldn't do that. She's too holy."

_'But she's lied to you before hasn't she? She was the reason you were submitted to such tortures when you were 12. She's why you chose to destroy the planet and everyone on it, she's the reason for all your pain.'_

"Yes she is." Jenova sighed, "But I'm not like those people on Gaea. I can get revenge on one person without destroying everything." Even though she'd already destroyed a lot of the planet and even an entire race of people. She wouldn't cause anymore harm to anyone but Minerva.

She didn't get a reply and she smiled, that was good. She hated her old voice, it gave her headaches. She stood up and took a step. All she needed to do was run a little more and she would be there. "Here we go." she took a breath and ran again, it hurt a lot more this time but she didn't stop. She wanted to talk to Minerva about that contract. Now that she could see a little better, she could read through it and see what she agreed to.

After running for a minute she tripped and tumbled down to the ground. She bit her lip and held in the agonized scream that was trying to escape from her mouth. Why did that hurt so much? Was it the body? Was there really something wrong with her? Maybe she should have stayed back in the forest.

"Oh wow, are you okay? That looked painful!" a young boy asked. Jenova blinked and looked around, why was that voice familiar? "I'm right here missy." Jenova found the boy near the town gates. He smirked at her and walked over, "Jenova?" he guessed.

"How?" she asked.

"I'm pretty smart." he said. The boy had black hair and blue eyes that seemed far to bright for him. In fact, they held a familiar greenish glow. It reminded her of the soldiers in Sephiroth's memories.

"Who are you?" she asked. Was he a soldier? He looked far to young for that, maybe he'd accidentally ingest mako? No, that wasn't it.

"I'm a ghost! My name is Zack Fair." the boy smiled.

"No." Jenova shook her head. Zack fair wasn't a little boy. He was older, like maybe he was 20 or something. Plus, he was dead! Of course, that would explain the ghost part.

"Really, I am!" the boy said, "I was playing a prank on some villagers."

"Uh huh." Jenova rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I also wanted to check on my parents." the boy said, "They're alright."

"I don't care." Jenova sighed, "I'm going to see someone."

"Minerva?" the boy guessed?

"How the hell do you know all this?" she asked.

"I saw her on the way into town. She explained a lot to me." the boy said, "She told everything about the weapons and all that. She also told me that you were to weak to get up."

"She was obviously wrong." Jenova said.

"I don't know, you look pretty dead right now." the boy laughed, "But I'll take you to Minerva if you want." Jenova watched as the boy was suddenly bathed in white light. She had to close her eyes eventually but when she opened them again, the boy was an adult. "It's weird, I feel so alive." he commented.

"Oh shit, you really are Zack." Jenova mumbled. That was bad, like really bad. Zack and Aerith were friends, so he was probably pissed at her for killing the woman.

"Yeah." Zack pulled her to her feet and she closed her eyes, she was completely at his mercy now. To her surprise, all he did was steady her and let her go.

"Eh? What are you doing?" she asked, "Don't you realize who I am?"

"Yes I do." Zack said, "You're the alien who came and killed the Cetra thousands of years ago." he narrowed his eyes, "You're also the reason Sephiroth went crazy in Nibelheim."

"Oh yeah." Jenova nodded, "That's who I am." She watched him cautiously, "So why are you helping me?"

"Because of the contract." Zack smiled, "I know you can't do anymore damage and also, if Minerva wants to hang out with you, you can't be to bad."

"Minerva is not hanging with me." Jenova said, "She's forcing me to help her save the planet." Zack said nothing as he lead her into town. Jenova followed him as quickly as she could, "Why don't you go and see Cloud?" she asked.

"I can't really get to him." Zack said, "And I also don't know how long I'll be able to stay here." Jenova tipped her head to the side, that made no sense. If he was really a ghost like he said he was, then he would be able to teleport right? Could ghosts teleport? She stumbled and found herself on the ground again.

"Damn." she moaned. Zack bent down next to her and examined her, a move that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"You're really injured, what were you thinking?" Zack asked, "You shouldn't even be moving with these types of injuries."

"Well, I wasn't going to sit in that forest anymore." she sighed.

"Seriously? Do you miss Minerva that much?" Zack asked.

"I don't miss her at all!" Jenova snapped, "I just wanted to see what that contract said."

"Uh huh." Zack helped her up, "Here, I can try to heal you. I'm not sure it will work though." He placed his hand on her abdomen and waited. A transparent green most floated over his hand and her stomach numbed over, "How is that?"

"It's good. Thanks." she sighed. She bit her lip once she realized she'd thanked him.

"No prob." Zack helped her through the town and to a small building. Jenova noticed the smell around the place. It was nice and it made her hungry, "Fast food, it's been awhile." Zack said, "Are you hungry?"

"No." Jenova said. Why was she lying about that? She was starving! She shook her head and sighed as they entered the small shop.

0.o.0.o.0

Minerva handed a man a large bag, "Have a nice day." she forced another smile onto her face as he took the bag. The man nodded and turned away. Minerva waited until he was gone to sigh, this was tiring. She'd only been working for an hour or so but she was already ready to get back to the forest. "So much for thinking." she mumbled as she realized that she really wouldn't be able to get any thinking done with so many people coming up to the register.

She held in a sigh as 2 more people walked up to the register, "Welcome to-" she stopped suddenly, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Ordering food." Jenova sighed, "Zack's hungry."

"That's right." Zack smiled, "I'm starving!"

"How did she get here Zack?" Minerva asked, "I told you she was dangerous. She can't be allowed around people."

"I think you're overreacting. She can barely stand. How much damage could she even do?" he asked.

"That's not the point." Minerva sighed, "What are you doing her Jenova?"

"I wanted to see that little contract thing." Jenova shrugged, "I want to know exactly what I agreed to."

"But that could have waited," Minerva hissed, "I told you to stay in the forest!"

"Minerva, it's boring down there." Jenova said, "I was about to die of boredom."

"It's dangerous." Minerva said, "Go back, now."

"But-"

"Zack, take her back for me. I'll make it up to you somehow." Minerva said.

"Sure, but how about you let me order some food first?" he asked, "I'm hungry."

"Ah, go ahead." Minerva rubbed her temples.

"Thanks, I want 20 choconuggets, 4 chocoburgers, 3 medium fires, 4 large fries, and 2 diet cola's." Zack said, "Man, I hope I have enough for that." He dumped a pile of gold coins onto the counter and Minerva sighed.

"Sit down, it'll be ready soon." she said. She glared at Jenova as they walked over to a booth near the window. Why had the girl decided to come here? She was clearly in a lot of pain, it made no sense at all. Was this all just to annoy her? Her glare melted away as she watched Jenova rest her head onto the table and close her eyes. She couldn't be mad at a person who looked so, well, in need.

0.o.0.o.0

"She's angry, I hardly ever saw her angry before." Zack said, "Then again, she was a lot older when she was a part of the planet."

"Yeah, she sucks." Jenova mumbled.

"She's doing a lot for you. You should try to be nicer." Zack said, "She can kill you at any moment."

"No, she's letting her emotions cloud her judgment." Jenova smirked tiredly, "She wants to help me out since she feels so guilty or lying to me, she wouldn't kill me."

"But she risked a lot to help you." Zack said, "The entire Planet is in chaos because she took a human body to give you, a mass-murderer, a second chance. A chance that you really don't deserve after what you did."

Jenova frowned, "I guess so." she sighed. Sure, Minerva was doing a lot for her. But this was all her fault anyway. She wouldn't have to deal with her if she never lied in the first place.

Her eyes widened as she watched someone set down all of Zack's food. It was a lot, but maybe he only needed that much because he was a ghost? She didn't know, but it smelled wonderful. "Are you really going to eat all o that?" she asked.

"I am," Zack nodded, "But some of this is for you." He pushed some of the food towards her/

"I told you I wasn't hungry." she protested.

"Yeah, but you look like you need some calories." Zack shrugged, "You'll heal quicker if you eat regularly."

Jenova sighed, "Well thanks I guess." she flinched, had she really just said thanks to him again? What was up with her? Saying thank you was common for humans and maybe ir was really Brianna who was saying thank you to him. But then why hadn't she thanked Minerva? After all, the girl had saved her life. Even though she technically ruined it to.

"Are you alright?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, just thinking." she picked up a French fry and examined it. It was soggy and covered with a lot of salt. "Why would someone do this? It takes all the nutritional value out of the potato." she said as she ate it. She had to admit, it tasted nice. But really, why?

"No one comes to a fast food place for healthy snack alright?" Zack said.

"Yeah, but everything is so greasy." she said

"It's not the best, but it's not like we can ask my mother to make us some soup." Zack sighed. Jenova shifted uncomfortably as she realized that he really wanted to speak with his parents. After all, he was alive and they were right down the street. But Minerva had probably told him not to.

Jenova ate another French fry and looked over to Minerva, the other girl was still glaring at them. Jenova sighed and tried to ignore it, why was she feeling so guilty right now? "Are you ready to go yet?" Jenova asked.

"Almost, give me a few more minutes. And you finish your food." Zack said. Jenova nodded and tried to finish her food. It was far to greasy for her but at least it calmed the storm that was roaring about her stomach. She finished it quickly and rested her head on the table again. She closed her eyes and took a breath, she was so tired…

0.o.0.o.0

_"So, is it true her mom is the teacher?" someone next to Jenova whispered. She put her head down and tried to pretend she wasn't listening to the conversation._

_"Yeah it's true." another girl said. She heard shifting and noticed a large group of girls had gathered around Minerva's desk. "You know, we think it's unfair that your mom is the teacher."_

_"Well, sorry?" Minerva said ._

_"She probably gives you good grades because you're her daughter." another girl said, "What do you guys think?" The entire class murmured in agreement. Jenova rolled her eyes, that wasn't the case. Minerva's mother was far to honest to do something like that._

_"It doesn't happen like that." Minerva said. Jenova briefly wondered where the teacher was at the moment. Surely she wouldn't let these girls torment her daughter right?_

_"You have stupid her." the girl directly in front of Minerva grabbed one of her pigtails and yanked it forward._

_Minerva flinched and tried to pull her hair away, "It looks just like yours." she said. Which was true, all of the girls in the class room seemed to have the same colored hair in the same style._

_"My hair is a lot shorter." the girl pulled a pair of scissors from her pocket, "But if you want to look like me, we can cut it."_

_"I don't want to look like you." Minerva tried to pull her hair away but the other girl held on tight. There were a few giggles as the girls started to cut Minerva's hair and Jenova turned away. Those girls were mean but she wasn't going to stop them. That would just draw attention to her, and she didn't need that._

0.o.0.o.0

She blinked and looked around, "Almost done?" she asked.

"What's your rush?" Zack asked, "It's been 2 minutes since you asked." Jenova sighed and looked over to Minerva and noticed a large man banging angrily on the counter. Minerva had a strange look on her face and Jenova grew shockingly angry. Why was she letting this man talk to her like that? She had no idea what he was saying but it couldn't be good.

"You know that guy?" she asked.

"Yeah, his name is Leroy." Zack sighed, "He's a real jerk."

"Should we stop him?" Jenova asked and without waiting for an answer, she stood up and walked over. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

"This lady screwed up my order." Leroy said, "I asked for 2 chocoburgers, one with cheese, one without cheese but with onions and pickles. The first one should have had mustard and the second one should have mayonnaise. But they don't. It's all mixed up."

Jenova blinked at his order, "For real? Do you need all that?" she asked, "I mean you're huge. You don't need to burgers and on top of that, your order is just… stupid." she sighed, "Really, you'd be better off getting a salad."

"What?" Leroy turned to her completely. He straitened his back and Jenova noticed for the first time how big he was, "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

Jenova didn't miss a beat, "I'm saying you're a fat ass! You don't need any more food." she snapped/

"Jenova!" Minerva hissed, "Go sit down." she could see the man was getting angry and had no idea how he would react to her insults.

Jenova ignored her and glared up at the larger man. Leroy looked down at her with an unreadable expression, "You want to repeat that little girl?" he asked.

Jenova stood on her toes and leaned closer, "You're fat, you should run around this place and eat a fucking potato." she said.

Leroy raised his hand, his face was red and he was sputtering some nonsense. Jenova braced herself for the hit and was surprised when it didn't come, "I guess I'll have to put a stop to this." Zack said.

"Huh?" Jenova blinked, "What are you doing?"

"Zack? Is that you? Man, I heard you were dead!" Leroy's anger melted away and Zack sighed. He took Jenova's arm and rushed out of the building.

"Jenova, try not to make a scene next time." Zack sighed.

"Next time?" she questioned, "Wait, I wasn't the one making a scene! He was the one getting pissed because of some cheese burgers. And I really couldn't just let him talk to her like that."

"I thought you hated her." Zack said.

"I do." Jenova said, "But you know, I had to stop him."

"Right." Zack chuckled, "Now, which way do you live?"

"I don't need your escort, the Ancient Forest is only a 30 minutes away." Jenova stretched her arms, "I'll be fine on my own."

"And what about me?" Zack asked.

"What about you?" she asked as she tried to remember which way she came from.

"How will I get there?" Zack asked, "I can't run as fast as you can."

"I guess if you turned back into a kid I could carry you." she shrugged. Zack nodded and made the transformation, Jenova shielded her eyes from the blinding light and the glared down at him, "Can you find a less obnoxious way to do that?" she asked.

Zack grinned, "Well where's the fun in that?" he asked as he climbed onto her back, "Let's go!" he laughed. Jenova rolled her eyes and started to run. Because Zack had healed her a little she could run faster. The pain was still there but she would be fine, "It's like a roller coaster!" Zack shouted.

"Yeah, shut up." Jenova shouted back. She focused on the ground, she didn't want to trip again. Yeah, that would be embarrassing.

"Ah, is that it?" Zack asked, "It's so cool!" Jenova looked up and slowed down. They'd made it to the forest in good time, "Why are you staying here?"

"Why not?" Jenova put him down and leaned back against a tree, "It's nice and glowy in here."

"I suppose." Zack nodded, "But still.."

"Hey, look up there! Fruit!" Jenova pointed towards a bunch of glowing orbs, "Or maybe Materia."

"I don't think so." Zack said, "It's way to big." He made the switch from child to man and stepped closer, "It looks like a bunch of apples really."

"Maybe when Minerva comes back she'll teleport up there and get them for us." Jenova said.

"Maybe, but unil then.." Zack said slowly, "Let's play hide and seek."

Jenova blinked and titled her head in confusion, hide and seek? The game was pretty straight forward. Someone hides and another person looks for them, but why would Zack want to play that? "Um…" she looked around and tried to find Zack.

"You're it! Try to find me!" she heard his voice from somewhere in the distance and frowned. It would be hard to find him, the forest seemed pretty dark even though it was still morning. How was she supposed to fund him? Especially when he's wearing dark clothing, he'd blend into the shadows!

"Alright, I love a challenge." she said with a smile as she started to search.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Minerva curled the paycheck in her hand and sighed, she had not needed to work the entire day but she had not wanted to come back. Of course now, she was tired and regretting the action. She entered the house and thought back to how Jenova had come to her aid back at the restaurant. It was, unexpected, to say the least. Why would Jenova stick up for her like that? Was there some ulterior motive? On the other hand, maybe she was forgiving her. "No." Minerva closed her eyes. There was no force that could rival Jenova's hatred of her and there was no way she would forgive her like that.

She entered her room and let herself fall onto the bed. She briefly noticed the clothes she was wearing were gone but then she recalled seeing Jenova in them. Jenova… she was around here somewhere and so was Zack, yet it was quiet. With a sigh, she sat up and got out of bed, "Jenova?" she called. There was no answer and for a moment, Minerva was worried that the two had not gone home when they left. What if they would gone somewhere else and gotten hurt? "Zack?" she shouted.

She rushed out of the house and shouted their names again, "Uh, I'm up here." she heard Zack answer distantly. She looked up and noticed him scaling a large tree.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "And where is Jenova?"

"I was hungry!" Zack replied as he began to climb down, "Jenova said it would be a while before you got back." Minerva noticed that his arms were filled with glowing orbs, fruits maybe. Our maybe even materia. "We were playing hide and seek, but Jenova hides really well and I gave up looking for her." He dropped to the ground and smiled, "But look, I think these might be ancient apples." he said.

"You stopped looking for her?" Minerva asked. How could he just stop looking for the Calamity? Did he not realize how dangerous she was? Even if she was injured, she needed to be watched at all times.

"We have to find her?" she said.

"Ah, do you really need my help?" Zack asked.

"I'm in no shape to find her on my own, I'm tired." she sighed.

"And I suppose we can't just leave her where she is can we?" Zack mumbled, "Let me put these down first."

"Which way did she go?" Minerva asked.

"Which way did who go?" Jenova asked.

"Look, there she is. Now we don't need to find her." Zack said as he entered the house.

"You know, I was hiding behind that bush for an hour Zack!" she said, "You didn't even try to find me." She looked to Minerva and smirked, "You look horrible."

"Thanks." Minerva muttered as she turned away from the girl. There had to be another reason she stood up for her earlier. Either that or Jenova was bipolar.

She entered the house and walked over to Zack, "So what is this?" she asked.

"Fruit!" Jenova said as she entered, "I found them."

"Yeah? Well I got them." Zack said.

"Whatever." Jenova said, "Minerva, eat one and make sure they aren't poisonous."

"And if they are?" she asked.

"Then I suppose you'd die." Jenova shrugged, "But you know, that's cool with me." Minerva frowned and turned away. She knew Jenova still hated her, but did she have to be so mean about it? "It just means I won't have to kill you later." Jenova said after a moment.

Minerva turned and glared harshly at her; she opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. She was somewhat speechless, so instead she turned and ran into her room. She threw herself on the bed and sighed, she felt like some teenage girl. "Because you are one." she muttered. She then realized exactly how much that was complicating things and how much it would in the future.

0.o.0.o.0

"You shouldn't have made her so upset." Zack said. He glared fiercely at the teen in front of him but the girl just shrugged.

"She's just grumpy. Really, she's like a baby." Jenova rolled her eyes, "She always gets grumpy when she's tired." Zack softened his gaze and thought. How exactly did Minerva and Jenova know each other? Jenova kept mentioning something about Minerva lying to her when they were younger, how long had they known each other? "Oh this is good!" he heard Jenova say, "It tastes just like oranges, but it feels like I'm eating clay."

Zack picked up a smaller fruit and examined it, it almost looked like a strawberry, if that strawberry was on steroids that is. "Hey, this tastes like strawberry." he said. Therefore, it must have been one. A giant glowing strawberry.

"Then this must be an apple." Jenova help up one of the larger fruits, "I bet Minerva is hungry." Zack grabbed her shoulder as she headed to the other girls room.

"She's tired, leave her alone." he said. She gave him a look that sent chills up his spine. He had to remind himself that she was a calamity and not some teenaged girl. That was hard though, she looked far too young to be dangerous.

"It's still early, she shouldn't be asleep." Jenova says, "We could be training or something."

"But she just got back from work." Zack said.

"So what?" Jenova asked as she left the room. Zack rolled his eyes and followed her. He entered Minerva's room and noticed the girl asleep on her bed.

"Jenova, we shouldn't-" Jenova but a finger to her lips and shushed him.

"Let's be respectful Zack, she's asleep." she said. She kneeled down next to Minerva and Zack felt something tighten in his chest. He did not like that the Calamity was so close to the goddess… Jenova placed the apple on her pillow and Zack saw what he thought was a smile. "I told you, she was just tired." she said softly, "She couldn't be that upset with me." Zack was sure that the goddess could, but he did not say anything. He really did not know Minerva at all. He only knew what he heard Genesis mumbling about her occasionally. "I wasn't serious earlier; I don't want to kill her at all."

"What?" Zack asked. Was she serious? A part of him hoped that Jenova was not there to kill anyone, that she had learned her lesson. However, a larger part of him knew that was a stupid thought.

"I don't want her to believe that I've forgiven her." Jenova said, "She doesn't deserve it, I know I don't either but at least…" she paused, "At least I'm not pretending that I do." She moved away from Minerva and sat back against the wall, "Stupid emotions."

"Did you have any before?" Zack asked. He knew she probably didn't. No one could wipe out an entire race of people without being cold blooded and emotionless.

"I did." Jenova mumbled, "But they were barely there. And they were almost non-existent once I came here."

Zack sat across from her and nodded towards Minerva, "Did she?" he asked.

"Yeah, I mean she's a Cetra after all. Don't they all?" Jenova asked, "She swallowed hers too though. You have to if you're going to run something that big."

Zack nodded, if Minerva had to run the Planet she would have to be cold. If she weren't, the wrong people would be given second chances. "Hey, are you sleeping?" Zack blinked as he noticed Jenova had put her head down onto her knees, "Didn't you just say it was early?"

"Yeah, that was before my body started to hurt again." Jenova said, "And I also have a feeling we'll be leaving a lot earlier then she thinks." Zack nodded and took that as a warning. Jenova knew something he did not and that made him uncomfortable, but he figured he would need to rest for whatever was coming. He would sleep to, but not on the floor like Jenova, in a bed.

He stood and left the room, the house had four rooms and they were all pretty big. He glanced into the largest one and noticed the remains of a black sweater on the floor, that must have been Jenova's room. He walked by and noticed a room with a crib in it. He shuddered as he looked over the room. The person who had killed the baby was sleeping a room over…

He shook his head and entered the last room. It was a lot smaller then the other rooms and most of the space was occupied by a bed, but he was only sleeping so what did it matter? He crawled into the bed and sighed, it was like a rock. He ignored the lumpiness and closed his eyes; he felt that he would not be sleeping very long, and not just because of what Jenova had said.

0.o.0.o.0

Minerva groaned and rubbed her eyes. She certainly needed the nap, especially if she was going to deal with Jenova at any point in the day. Her fingers brushed a cool object and she glanced over. It was one of the fruit that Zack had picked from the tree. She picked it up and sat, her stomach growled furiously and she sighed. "I get it." she mumbled before taking a bite. The fruit was crisp, like an apple. It even tasted like the Banora White apples that Genesis loved so much. "I can see why he liked these so much." she said.

The ground rumbled and she swallowed the food in her mouth, "Jenova…" she looked around and saw the girl curled up on the floor near the bed. There was a slightly troubled look on her face and she seemed to be holding onto her legs with all her strength. Was she having nightmares again? She nudged the girl gently, "Jenova. Get up." she said.

Jenova opened her eyes and swatted her away, "Come on." she mumbled, "I was nice and let you rest, can't you do the same with me?"

"No." the ground rumbled again and Minerva felt her chest tighten. There was a familiar burning sensation that she hadn't felt in a long time, "It's Ruby Weapon!" she got out of the bed and shook Jenova awake, "Go and get Zack, we need to leave." she ordered. Jenova rubbed her eyes and stood up, Minerva could tell she was still in pain but there was nothing she could do about that.

"Where is he?" she asked sleepily.

"Just call his name or something." Minerva said. She needed to gather what little supplies they had and maybe even get some more fruit from the tree.

"Zack…" Jenova called sleepily before sitting down on the bed, "We need you." she mumbled.

"What's going on?" Zack entered the room and Minerva briefly wondered if Jenova's calls had woken him up. She then decided that it was probably the constant shaking.

"Ruby Weapon." Minerva said as she gathered the fruits into the plastic bag from the night before, "Let's go." she pulled Jenova up and pulled her out of the house. Zack followed closely behind them with a concerned look on his face.

"There's no one around." Jenova said as they exited the house, "Are you sure this isn't an earthquake?"

"No, those are foot steps." Minerva looked around. The feeling grew in her chest and she took a breath, "It's coming."

"Well, what does Ruby Weapon look like?"

"It's big and red with long claw like arms. There's also a little grey on it's legs." she stopped, "I don't have time to give you a description but you'll know it when you see it." Minerva let go of Jenova's wrist and motioned for them to follow. The grounds shaking grew more constant as Ruby Weapon closed in on them. Minerva but her lip as she realized that the monster would see them before they would even realize it.

"Where are we going?" Jenova whispered, "Shouldn't we leave this forest? We'll just get lost."

"If we leave the forest, we'll be out in the open. We can't outrun it and Zack is the only one who ca fight here." Minerva said, "But after being dead for so long, I'm not sure if he could even do that."

"Hold on now, I have to say my fighting isn't the least bit rusty." He defended, "You know Jenova, I was a First Class Soldier. The real deal."

Jenova rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah, just like Cloud." she muttered. Minerva thought of telling her that Cloud never made it into SOLDIER but decided to let her look stupid. She stopped suddenly, the tight feeling in her chest had loosened and the rumbling stopped.

"It stopped, it probably has us in it's sights now." she said.

"So why did we stop?" Jenova asked.

Minerva ignored her and looked to Zack, "It also might just be resting. It came all the way from the Gold Saucer."

"You know, I want to go there." Jenova said.

"How? We don't have enough money to get there." Minerva said, "Only what I was able to earn today, and even that won't get us to Cloud.

Jenova seemed to ignore her heated words, "CAn't you teleport us all?" she asked.

"No." Minerva crossed her arms, "I can only teleport myself."

"How did you get me here then?" She questioned, "When I passed out back at Costa Del Sol. That's really far, you didn't just walk here."

"I've lost a lot of power since then." she said. Jenova's smile made here realize that she'd said too much. Jenova didn't need to know that her powers were rapidly disappearing.

"Then how about You teleport there? Jenova and I can run." Zack suggested, "Or maybe you could talk to Ruby Weapon. You are a goddess after all, wouldn't it listen to you?"

Minerva shook her head, "No. I'm not a goddess anymore, I'm human." she said, "I can't stop it even if I tried." She took a breath and glared at Jenova, "And it's your fault! Why couldn't you just die? Why did you have to keep coming back?"

"Because I don't want to die! I never told you to become human, you could have destroyed me while you were a goddess." Jenova snapped, "Don't try to pin this all on me." Minerva curled her fists angrily and tried to hold in her rage. She ultimately failed and let out an exasperated scream.

"It is your fault!" she shouted, "You stole Brianna's body and now she's turned the Weapons crazy!"

"Well why the hell didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Jenova asked, "This could have all been prevented if you would have just done your job in the first place!" Minerva raised her hand and prepared to throw a punch.

Zack covered her fist with his hand and pulled her away from Jenova, "You both need to calm down. Ruby Weapon is somewhere around here and there are packs of Diablo's and Rilfsak's everywhere. Right now we need to stop the Weapons before they start killing people."

"Killing people." Minerva repeated as she pulled away from Zack, "I can't let that happen. I need to go. I'll meet you at the weapon shop!" she turned and ran away, her eyes closed and she teleported away.

0.o.0.o.0

"What weapons shop?" Zack wondered aloud. He turned to Jenova, who was glaring at the ground with what seemed to be tears in her eyes.

"Look what you made her do." Jenova grumbled, "You ran her off."

"Me?" Zack crossed his arms, "You're the one-" he shook his head, "I think she meant the weapon shop near Gongaga. Let's go."

"My legs are tired, I don't want to run." Jenova said.

"Don't be so lazy." Zack sighed, he'd thought she would be a little more cooperative since her life was at risk but that wasn't the case. He started in the direction they'd come from, once they escaped the forest they would run. Well, Jenova would run and he would be on her back.

"What are we going to do at a weapon shop?" Jenova asked, "We don't have any money."

"We have a little." he said, he remembered seeing Minerva's paycheck while she was asleep but he wasn't sure if she'd remembered to grab it, "I also have a little. I spent most of it earlier though."

"I thou old people didn't make mistakes." Jenova said, "How could you spend all of your money on food?"

"Old?" he asked, "I'm 22, that's not old. I mean you're a lot older then me."

"Hey, technically I'm only 16." Jenova said, "But before I died I was 2,026 years old."

"Gods you're ancient." Zack mumbled before walking away. He heard Jenova mumble something before hurrying to catch up. She was definitely a 16 year old. Zack wondered briefly how someone who seemed so childish had managed to destroy the last of Sephiroth's mentality. Was this all an act?

"Zack, water." Jenova pointed out. Zack stopped just as he stepped into a puddle. In the distance there was a rather large lake.

"I hope you can swim." Zack mumbled as he continued towards it. They didn't have time to waste, he didn't want Ruby Weapon to find them. He walked into the water and hissed as his boots filled with icy water, "Come on." he turned back to the alien girl and noticed her staring down at the water with a distant look on her face. She held her head and closed her eyes before collapsing into the water.

0.o.0.o.0

_"It's hot!" Minerva threw herself into the pool and splashed her friend, "Are you getting in?"_

_"No." Jenova crossed her arms, she wasn't going to take her clothes off in the public. Well, technically it wasn't public. It was just Minerva's backyard. But still…_

_"It'll cool you off!" Minerva sand as she swam over to the side of the pool, "Come on, don't tell me you're feeling nervous again."_

_"I can't help it." Jenova mumbled._

_"Stop acting like that! No one can see us." Minerva said._

_"I don't know how to swim." Jenova added, "I'd drown." A year before, in the summer, just about every child had taken swimming lessons. She hadn't, mostly because her father wouldn't let her out. He hadn't wanted her to be seen anymore then was necessary._

_"I can teach you." Minerva said, "Do you have you're bathing suit?"_

_"I don't have one." Jenova said._

_"For real?" Minerva asked, "Alright, just take off your shoes. We can teach you in your clothes."_

_Jenova blinked. Minerva really wasn't going to let her be was she? "Fine." she mumbled as she untied her shoes. She tried to take her time but the moment they were off of her feet, Minerva pulled her into the pool. "Gah! Minerva warn me before you do that!" she said._

_Minerva giggled, "Sorry!" she said as she swam around the pool, "But this is good! Once you learn to swim, we can play more games!"_

_"In the pool? Do we have to?" Jenova asked._

_"Don't be so scared. I won't let you drown." Minerva smiled, "How about you trust me?" Jenova nodded, she could trust Minerva. She'd only helped her so far…_

_0.o.0.o.0_

_"This is so unfair!" Minerva glared at the water that had swept her ball away. Jenova watched the girl wade into the murky water and swim towards the ball, "It's going really far."_

_"Forget about it." Jenova said as a wave momentarily knocked Minerva over, "It's too dangerous."_

_"But I really like that ball!" Minerva said as she continued deeper into the water. Another wave knocked her over and Jenova waited anxiously for her to resurface._

_"Minerva?" she call after a moment. She received no answer. Jenova stepped forward as she realized that she'd have to go and save her friend. There didn't seem to be any adults around, but she couldn't swim that well._

_Without another thought, she rushed into the murky waters. It was really think and she was sure she wouldn't be able to swim in it, but Minerva still hadn't resurfaced. A wave knocked her over and see unintentionally screamed. The dirty water filled her mouth and she flailed helplessly under the depths. She was drowning and it felt horrible._

_She reached for the surface and her vision blurred. She couldn't pass out, Minerva was a few feet away drowning and she needed to save her even if that meant that she would drown trying._

_0.o.0.o.0_

_She struggled against his hold and tried to fight the strong urge to take in a large breath of air. She was underwater and that wouldn't end in her favor. Her head heated up and she felt as if her brain was on fire. It was strange, because the water itself was freezing. The edges of her vision darkened and she was yanked out of the water. "You're getting water everywhere." came an angry voice. Jenova ignored him and tried to suck in as much air as she could before her face was shoved back into the chilling water. "Don't you like it in there?" a distorted voice laughed._

_He pulled her out of the water and threw her to the ground. She coughed and sputtered while the two men in the room watched. "You know, I think we should have sex in the water." one of them said._

_Jenova looked up and shook her head, "Leave me alone!" she coughed and crawled away from them._

_"Are you not having fun?" one man asked, "I am."_

_"Leave her alone. If she doesn't want water, we'll do it on the floor, simple." the other guy laughed. He walked over to her and lifted her to her feet, "Or up against the wall." he suggested as he pressed her against the wall. Jenova closed her eyes and waited, there was no stopping this man. The only thoughts that went through his head were about torturing someone. It made her sick that theses were the people she'd come from. She wasn't like that and she never would be… right?_

0.o.0.o.0

When she woke up, she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. Her first action was pushing away from whoever had her in his grasp. She almost screamed when the arms only tightened their grip, "Let me go!" she demanded.

"Oh, you're awake." she recognized that as Zack's voice. She opened her eyes and felt her feet connect with solid ground. "Ugh, where are we?" she mumbled as she looked around. They weren't in the forest anymore and she couldn't see it in the distance.

"No idea, but I think the weapon shop is over there. I've been running east for a while." Zack said, "What happened back there?"

"What do you mean?" Jenova asked. She wondered if she'd been screaming the like the first time she had a memory surge. It would be embarrassing if she did that every single time.

"You fell into the water and almost drowned." Zack said, "But when I got you out, you were screaming and thrashing around. I was actually a little worried." Zack shook his head, "So what was it?"

"A memory surge." Jenova said, "I pass out and see a load of memories that I want to forget. And on top of all that, it hurts like hell." She sighed as she felt the new pain that was seeping through her body.

Zack took a moment to consider the information before nodding and turning away, "Well, are you good for walking? I think the weapon shop is a few miles away. I can't see anything in this light but it has to be close." he said.

Jenova took a step forward and winced, "I think I'll be okay." she said, "As long as we don't move to fast."

"Alright, come on. I'm starving." Zack said. He started walking and Jenova limped behind him as fast as she could.

"How can you be hungry? You ate a lot." she reminded.

"Yeah, in the morning." Zack said, "It's night now, all that food is gone and digested. Don't tell me you're not hungry."

"I am." Jenova admitted, "But still-"

"You haven't really eaten at all since I met you." Zack said, "I bet if you took care of yourself, you wouldn't be in so much pain."

"You mean I get paralyzed with pain and I relive some of my worst nightmares because I'm hungry?" she asked skeptically, "I don't think so."

"Maybe you just need some rest. Instead of running all the way to Gongaga this morning, you should have slept." Zack said, "You were hurt and all you did was make it worse by pushing yourself. Have you taken a bath?"

"No, there were no tubs." Jenova said, "I'm still wearing the clothes from Costa Del Sol under Minerva's sickly white outfit." She glared down at her clothes before looking to Zack, "But you know, you need a bath too. I mean, you smell horrible."

"I just ran 16 miles with only a small break!" Zack said, "How should I smell?"

"Like bacon or something." She shrugged. She wasn't sure how bacon smelled but it must have been good. That's why people always want to get out of bed when they smell it in the morning.

"You don't think it would be weird if my sweat smelled like bacon?" Zack chuckled, "It's better then what I smell like now." Jenova caught up to him, "Whoa, slow down. Your hurting yourself." Zack put a hand on her shoulder, "We'll get there soon enough."

"I don't want to be out in the open anymore. Ruby Weapon is somewhere out here." she glanced behind her, "It's just waiting to attack us."

"I suppose I can carry you the rest of the way if you're that scared." Zack rolled his eyes, "But there's nothing to worry about." He scooped her into his arms and started to run.

"Am I heavy?" she asked curiously. She was pretty skinny, and she wasn't sure how weight worked out on this planet but she couldn't weigh that much. "Hey I can see the shop" she pointed with childlike excitement. Standing outside of the shop was Minerva. She was standing with her arms crossed while staring intently at the ground.

"Hey! Minerva!" Zack shouted. He stumbled and dropped Jenova, "Whoops." he laughed nervously before helping her up. Jenova glared at him before turning to Minerva.

"What happened?" Minerva asked, "Are you hurt?"

"Not really." Jenova shrugged, "I mean, it hurts to be dropped on your ass like that but I'll survive."

"That's not what I meant. Why was he carrying you in the first place." Minerva asked.

"No, this chick just had a spaz attack. She fell over and almost drowned in a lake." Zack explained, "Nothing too serious."

"Alright, come inside. We can take a short break before we get moving again." Minerva turned towards the door, "It has a bed in there and even a few weapons."

"Swords?" Zack asked, "Are they any good?"

"No, they're rusted and a little bent." Minerva entered the building first, "But we'll be okay for a while with them. We'll be avoiding most fights."

Jenova limped into the building and sat down on the counter, "I don't like swords." she said, "Can't I have a gun? Or maybe even a gun-sword?"

"That costs gil Jenova, we don't have enough for that." Minerva said.

"You made money working didn't you?" Jenova crossed her arms, "Can't we use that to buy weapons?"

"No, it's for the ferry. It'll take us from Costa Del Sol to Junon." Minerva said, "We'll be walking everywhere else."

"Oh." Jenova rolled her eyes. She was not going to walk anywhere. They'd have to carry her if they wanted to get her anywhere. Then again, it would be a lot easier to leave her behind and let Ruby Weapon obliterate her with it's fire. She'd have to follow Minerva's orders long enough to break the contract and destroy the Weapons after her.

"Rolling your eyes is rude and disrespectful Jenova. Please don't do it again." Minerva said.

Jenova looked at her and rolled her eyes again, "Alright _mom_, I'll remember that." She turned to Zack and watched him examining swords. He had a pile of worthy weapons and was currently selecting the best one for himself.

"I think you're more of a mage." he said to Minerva, "You would be better off learning to heal and use magic."

"Yeah, I know." Minerva said, "But we don't have time for that."

"Well, in that case…" he rummaged through the pile, "Here, this should be good enough for you." He handed her a short sword, "If you won't be fighting much, I think that one's the best."

"What about me?" Jenova asked.

"Don't you have weird alien powers?" he asked, "Do you even need a sword?"

"No, I took all of her powers away when she signed that contract," Minerva said, "I didn't want to take any chances."

"Aw what the hell Minerva?" Jenova crossed her arms and glared, "That is totally not cool."

"You won't need them. We just need to survive long enough to get to Cloud. He can handle the rest." Minerva said.

"And what if he doesn't want to?" Jenova asked. It seemed rather unlikely that Cloud would jump up and save the Calamity. She was sure that it would just be easier to let them kill her.

"He's fought most of them before." Minerva said, "He should have no problem doing it again."

"That's not what I meant." Jenova said, "I can't just waltz into his life and say, "Hey, remember me? I'm Jenova's human form, the Calamity that wiped out the Cetra and drove Sephiroth insane enough to impale your friend Aerith on a sword. This is Minerva, a goddess who is pretty useless now because she's a human. Oh! And let's not forget Zack, the same friend that you watched die, he's right here. I need your help because I pissed off some evil spirit and now the Weapons are awake and trying to kill me.' It doesn't work that way."

"But he'd be happy to see me." Zack said, "After getting over what's going on with you."

"Yeah, whatever. I want to fight too." Jenova mumbled.

"But you won't be able to." Minerva reminded, "You keep having those, well. Attacks. What if something like that happens during battle?"

"It won't." Jenova said. As long as nothing around her triggered it, she would be fine. She slid off of the counter and rubbed her temples, "They don't hurt that much."

"Yeah right, here." Zack handed her a sword that was slightly larger then Minerva's, "Where are we headed next?"

"The Gold Saucer." Minerva said, "We should be able to make some money there."

"How?" Jenova asked.

"By betting on chocobo races." Minerva said.

"For real?" Jenova asked. She didn't know how making bets would help them at all. Then again, Minerva could bend people's minds to her will. Maybe she could do that with chocobo until the one she wants wins. "Where do we go after that?" she asked.

"Edge." Minerva said, "But I haven't really planned much."

"And do you think we could get some new clothes while we're at it?" She asked, "I want some leather."

"That will have to wait, our first priority won't be clothes." Minerva said.

"But I stink! Zack said so."Jenova said, "And if I take a bath and put stinky clothes back on, the entire bath would have been for nothing."

"HEy… I never said that!" Zack said defensively, "I just said that you needed a bath because- wait, I guess I did say that. But you said I was smelly too."

"Because you are!" Jenova said, "It's like Minerva is the only one who smells good."

"She actually smells like onion rings." Zack said, "But that still smells better then we do."

"Yeah, not fair." Jenova said. She smelled like a combination of blood, lake water, and sweat. It smelled horrible and she really wanted a bath, "Can we take a bath at the Gold Saucer?"

"Yeah, we can. I'm sure we'll need to." Minerva said, "It's a long walk to the Gold Saucer and I don't want any complaining from either of you." Jenova rolled her eyes, if Minerva was going to act like super mom the entire time, then it would be a long walk.

0.o.0.o.0.o

You know, I'm starting to regret making the chapters so long. It makes them a lot harder to rewrite.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Minerva!" Jenova whined, "Can we take a break now?" She'd discovered not long ago that her new voice was very annoying when she whined. She'd decided to use that against Minerva, "Come on!" she whined again. She smirked as she watched Minerva tense up and curl her fists. It was hilarious when Minerva tried to remain calm, it was even more funny when she exploded and started shouting random things. "I'm huuuuuungry!"

"Hold on! We're almost there." Minerva snapped.

"Almost where?" Jenova twirled her sword absently, "We've been walking all day. I'm pretty sure my feet are about to fall off."

"I highly doubt that." Minerva sighed, "We're almost to our resting pint. That town over there." Minerva pointed out into the distance. Jenova squinted and saw the ruins of what looked like Midgar.

"What is that?" she asked, "I don't remember any towns around here."

"It's not a town. After Meteor, a lot of people tried to form new towns. You know, to get back on their feet? Everything was pretty much destroyed." Minerva explained, "But there were too many monsters and they never got very far."

"Too many monsters?" Zack asked, "And that's where you expect to take a break?"

"Yes." Minerva nodded, "After we clear the monsters out of a building we can rest."

"You just want to use that sword." Jenova said.

"A little training never hurt anyone." Minerva said, "It might come in handy."

"Yeah, I could use some training." Zack said, "It's been a while."

Jenova rolled here eyes and looked up, there were so many stars out. She hadn't seen stars in a while. They kind of reminded her of when she'd flown through space to get to Gaia. She'd gotten close enough to actually touch one! But it had been far to hot to touch…

_"Look! There's so many!"_

Jenova shuddered as she heard Minerva's young voice. She hoped she wouldn't pass out again, it would be rather embarrassing to have another spaz attack. She sighed as the memory cam pouring in. They were sitting on top of a large hill and counting the stars. Minerva had been happy that they were able to see so many of them. Usually, the town lights blocked out most of them, but there had been a major black out and every star was visible. Minerva pointed out several constellations and Jenova listened and learned from her. Then they tried to count them, they'd never gotten above ten, but they still tried.

Jenova smiled faintly and tried counting them on her own. It was a lot harder to do while she was walking but she continued to do so anyway. She shook her head and looked ahead of her just in time to see Zack stop. She still bumped into him, but at least she'd seen it coming. "Why did you stop?" she asked.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Well I was trying to distract myself from this endless walk." she said. For some reason, she didn't want to admit to counting stars, it seemed rather immature. She didn't need them thinking she was immature.

"Pay attention. I'm starting to see monsters darting around." Zack said. The terrain was starting to get rockier, there was no doubt that a few monsters were watching them from the shadows.

Jenova looked past Zack and saw Minerva was way ahead of them at the entrance to the ghost town. She was also glancing up at the stars. Maybe she was thinking about the same thing. "Minerva! Wait up!" Zack shouted as he rushed to catch up. Minerva turned back with a small smile on her face. That smile immediately faded when she laid her eyes upon Jenova.

Jenova couldn't fight the smirk that forced itself upon her face as Minerva looked away guiltily. "Hurry up Jenova!" Zack said. Jenova sped up and caught up with them, "I can tell these monsters want to attack, keep your guard up."

"We should clear that building there." Minerva pointed towards a building that was a lot more complete then the other buildings, "It's the only one with walls."

"One of us should stay up and keep watch for any other monsters." Zack said.

"And when we wake up?" Jenova asked, "I'm a little hungry."

"Yeah, I heard." Minerva rolled her eyes, "We'll head to the Gold Saucer and try to rest there."

"And play some games?" Zack asked hopefully.

"No Zack, I already told you what we'll be doing there. Chocobo races and nothing more." Minerva said, "Maybe we'll be able to find a buffet or something."

"The Gold Saucer doesn't have buffets." Zack said.

"Well, they've remodeled since you've last been there." Minerva said, "After Meteor, the place collapsed and the kid of kept it like that."

"That sounds cramped." Zack said.

"Not really, they've changed a lot. It's accessible on foot now and there are hotels surrounding it. I know they've added a few rides. I'm not sure, I wasn't watching it that closely." Minerva shrugged, "I might be able to pull some strings so we don't have to pay for some things." Jenova raised her eyebrows, did Minerva just suggest using her mind to get free stuff? Maybe her human body was affecting her too. Then again, Minerva would have done that as a goddess if they had stuff that she could use.

"How do we cash that check you have?" She asked curiously. Zack and Minerva turned to her suspiciously, "What?"

"Why do you want to know?" Minerva asked.

"Calm down, I was just curious." Jenova rolled her eyes. What did they think she was going to do? Steal the check and run away? She couldn't do that while she was bound to Minerva's contract, they didn't have a reason to worry, yet.

"When we get to a bank, I'll do it." Minerva said, "But we might get more gil fighting monsters."

"How?" she asked, "Are we going to work as mercenaries?" she asked. That sounded fun, she'd like to get paid to kill things. If she was going to do it already, she might as well get paid for it.

"No, monsters drop items and gil when they die. Most likely because they murdered someone and ate their possessions." Minerva explained. Minerva turned and started walking into the town. It was like a long street, it went down for a mile or so before fading into the nothing. The buildings towards the center of the long stretch were more developed then the others. They had windows and doors but were just empty shells. A few buildings might have contained furniture, but they weren't going to go house hunting.

She watched Minerva chat innocently with Zack about what was going on in the world at the moment. Her heart twisted in what she assumed was jealousy. For some reason, she wanted Minerva to talk to _her_, not Zack. While they were walking, she slipped into one of the empty buildings and waited. She wanted to see how long it would take for them to find her. She knew it sound immature, but there was a good reason for doing it. If she could sneak off for long periods of time, then maybe she could figure out a way to wipe Minerva off the face of the planet.

She chuckled darkly and sat down on the floor, it probably wouldn't take long for Minerva to notice her absence but that didn't matter, she still would have a little alone time to think.

0.o.0.o.0

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she was sure that she was being attacked when she woke up. Something had hit her in the face and left a shallow cut behind. She blinked and looked around and saw a pink creature with green shoes and a round shield that seemed to be to large for the thing to hold. It had large, elf-like ears and a horn that poked out from the center of its head. It bounced around and stared at her with it's beady orange eyes as it waited for her to make a move.

"You hit me?" she questioned. She looked at the rod in its hand and saw one of the spiked covered in blood, "You did." She stood up and pointed her sword at it. This type of fight was something she needed if she wanted to start regaining her strength. She could fight a million of them and be back to normal strength in no time. She ran forward and tried to land a hit on it. It evaded her attacks easily and eventually hit her with it's shield. She hesitated and thrust her sword at it , the monster bounced back and she only managed to knick it's arm before it launched an attack of its own.

Lightning flew from its rod and hit her dead in the chest. She stumbled back and dropped her sword, "Ow.." she mumbled as she stumbled away from the monster. She touched the area on her chest and flinched. It didn't seem to bad, but it was burned. "You're going to pay for that!" she reached for her sword only to have the monster smash her hand with its rod. She held her hand and glared at the creature, she was a lot taller then it was and she should have been able to kill it easily. Really, it looked like a stuffed animal, not some deadly creature.

She kicked it and grabbed her sword. The monster lunged forward at her and she slammed her sword down on it's head. It screeched and sent more lightning her way. She tried to dodge it but it caught her shoulder and she bit back a scream. She turned towards it and managed to land a hit on it's arm. She smiled triumphantly as a large gash opened up on it's arm.

Her triumph was short lived, as the monster screamed and summoned a large ice crystal. It flew towards her and she tried to outrun it. The crystal smashed into her back and she fell. Her sword skittered out of reach and she gasped. Was she really about to be killed by a small, pink, monster? How humiliating.

The monster stumbled over to her and raise its rod above it's head. Blue sparks flew weakly from it and landed near Jenova. She groaned and reached out towards it. She managed to grab it's legs and knock it off of its feet, its weapons flew from his hand as well. "Gotcha…" she whispered. She forced herself up and grabbed her sword. The monster reached for its weapon as well but she didn't hesitate. She sliced it's head clean off of its shoulders and fell back against the wall.

She watched the monsters corpse bubble into a mess of black sludge before spotting something shiny in the center of the mess. "Gil…" she dropped her sword and picked it up, "Oh wow, they really do eat gil." She put the coin in her pocket before picking up her sword and exiting the building. She needed to catch up with Zack and Minerva before she was attacked again.

It was dark and she could barely see a thing. Her vision blurred and she stumbled as she walked. She hoped that she wouldn't pass out, she didn't want to be eaten by any of those pink monsters. "Fighting hurts." she mumbled to herself. Her shoulder burned, and so did her chest. Her back also hurt whenever she took a step. She wanted to take a break but she was sure that she would fall asleep if she sat down and that would leave her open to monster attacks.

Her eyes widened as a blurred blob of pink moved next to her. "Oh no…" she muttered as she turned and saw several of the pink monsters behind her. She didn't think twice before she started to run. Her back ached and seemed to get even worse as she tried to speed up. She heard screeching behind her and realized the monsters were closer then she thought. She tripped and fell down, and as soon as she hit the ground, one of the monsters shot lightning at her back.

She gasped in pain and found herself curling into a ball and waiting for them to finish her off. There was a familiar feeling in her chest and she noticed black smoke coming from under her. The monsters screamed and screeched and launched several desperate attacks as the smoke surrounded them and choked the life out of them. She relaxed as the screaming stopped and she felt herself blinking out. She knew that she wasn't in the best place to pass out, but the wasn't much she could do about it. She sighed once more before she finally passed out.

0.o.0.o.0

Minerva sliced through another monster and watched it fall to the ground before she looked to Zack , "That's the last of them." she yawned, "We did a lot better then expected."

"Yeah, and look at all this stuff." Zack said, "I've never seen a monster drop this much."

"They've had years to stock up." Minerva shrugged, "Now who's going to keep watch first?"

"Well, you two are a lot more hurt then me. I guess I should." Zack said as he picked through the sludge on the ground. Minerva nodded and bent down to help when she realized something was missing.

"Where's Jenova?" she asked. She looked around the newly emptied building and didn't find her.

Zack groaned, "She probably just ran off to avoid fighting." he said, "She's around her somewhere."

"Jenova!" she called out of the building. She was afraid to shout anymore, she didn't want to attract anymore monsters. "Zack, she's not answering."

"What? Was she still with us when we got to the building?" Zack asked. Minerva shrugged, she hadn't really noticed that the girl was missing. She'd been too busy filling Zack in on the situation.

"What if she was attacked?" she asked, "We weren't paying attention to her, what if she was attacked and we didn't notice?"

"Calm down, we would have heard if she got attacked." Zack said, "You know how she screams, we would have heard it. Now, let's go back and look for her, she has to be around here somewhere." Minerva nodded but couldn't hide her worry as she started down the street. She couldn't stop imagining Jenova in desperate positions. Being attacked by several monsters or maybe she was dead.

"What if a monster caught her off guard and cut her head off?" She found herself asking.

"I doubt she'd die from that. Not while you're down here."

"What?" she asked as she searched each building frantically.

"If I can't get into the life stream, no one can." he said.

"Oh man, then she'd be headless again. Her body is probably stumbling around and searching for her head." she said, She heard Zack chuckle.

"Really, you're overreacting. She's not headless." he said, "She's probably just hiding."

"No, I can feel it! She's hurt, and there were a lot of Grimguards near the front of the village." she rushed forward and almost fell.

"Calm down! Maybe you should stay in our building, I'll get her." he suggested.

"No, I can- Look!" Minerva dashed forward and ran down the street, "She's hurt!" She kneeled down next to Jenova and looked her over, "I told you she was hurt." she noticed a hole was burned into her shirt and the flesh was slightly scorched. Her left should was the same, "She was attacked by Grimguards." she said. She looked around at all the sludge and items on the ground, "And there are more around here."

"Okay, you keep an eye on Jenova, I'll handle them." Zack said as several Grimguards surrounded them. Minerva nodded and kept her sword ready. She tried to watch over her but even glancing at her made her feel guilty. Jenova looked far too human when she was asleep and she hated that. She would be a lot easier to handle if she looked slightly more freakish. But now she looked far too innocent to be the Calamity she knew.

She briefly wondered how Jenova had gotten so hurt and how she hadn't noticed that she was gone. Jenova stood out, even in the dark when her silver hair seemed to glow. So why hadn't she noticed when that silver glow disappeared? "All done! These guys are a handful." Zack said as he kneeled down on the other side of Jenova, "How many did she fight? It looks like they got her really bad."

"Well, they seem to attack in groups so, maybe a lot." Minerva turned towards the items and began to pick them up. There was a lot of gil and even a few half empty potion bottles. Maybe they could be useful.

"Let's get out of here before anymore of them come." Zack picked up Jenova and turned away, "I'm not sure if we can fight anymore tonight."

"Alright." Minerva took as much as she could before following behind him. She felt horrible for some reason even though what had happened was not her fault.

"Stop looking so guilty, you know this wasn't your fault." Zack said, "Jenova's not easy to control."

"Yeah, but our contract… It said I would help her as long as she needed it, and I wasn't there when she needed help." she said, "I've screwed up already."

"Don't feel so bad, she went off by herself. There's nothing you could have done." Zack said.

"Except pay attention and make sure she wouldn't be able to slip away." Minerva said, "She's dangerous, and we need to keep an eye on her. And if we don't, she might get hurt… like before."

"And what happened before? Why do you two keep bringing it up." Zack asked.

"It's not something that I want to talk about but I lied to her when we were younger and that's kind of the reason she started her rampage."

"She came here for revenge?" Zack guessed.

"Yah, and she never got it apparently." Minerva sighed.

"She wiped out an entire race of people." Zack reminded, "What else did she want?"

"The Cetra were necessary casualties to her. She wants me dead and since I was a part of the planet at one point, she wanted to kill the planet. But she couldn't while the Cetra were around. They had the power to heal the planet, so she had to get rid of them." Minerva said, "I wish I had known what was happening back then…"

"Was she always crazy?" Zack asked.

Minerva shook her head, "No, she used to be a nice, quiet and shy girl." she said, "But she snapped…"

"Why?" Zack pressed.

"It's not important right now." Minerva said, "Let's just get inside."

"I don't know what you did, but I'm sure she'll forgive you." Zack said, "I mean, if she felt the need to thank you back in Gongaga, then she couldn't be too upset."

"I don't think she will." Minerva said as they reached their building. She entered and set all of their items down on the ground, "Shut the door." she ordered, "And help me sort through this stuff."

Zack set Jenova down and started looking through the items, "These are potions, but who knows how long they've been marinating in that monsters belly." he shook the bottle, "Do you think its safe?"

"No harm in trying." she pushed all of the bottles towards Zack, "Try to pour similar fluids in the same bottle." She busied herself with counting gil, so far they had 4,000. Inwardly, she was doing backflips. They would have enough for a hotel and maybe some new clothes.

"I can't wait until we get to the buffets." Zack said, "All you can eat!" Minerva's stomach growled and she glared at him.

"Don't mention food Zack. I'm starving." she said, "And fighting didn't make it any better." They worked in silence for a few minutes before Minerva finished counting the gil. "32,000." she said, "Is that enough for anything?"

"It costs 3,000 to get in." Zack said, "So we have enough, but I don't know about hotels." He finished sorting through the bottles and pushed the potions towards Minerva, "We have 4 of them." He picked one up and brought it to his lips, "If I die-

"Just drink it." Minerva rolled her eyes. Zack smiled and gulped it down, "Not bad. It tastes a little… eh… It's a lot worse then usual." he sighed, "It's like black licorice."

"Ew." Minerva drank one herself and sighed as some of the pain began to fade, "Does this heal you?"

"No." Zack shook his head, "It just makes the pain go away. It also stops you from bleeding if you're bleeding too much." Minerva nodded and started to separate the gil into bags. She hoped they'd have enough to get things, the journey to Edge was bound to be long and she had a feeling that prices had risen dramatically since Meteor.

She looked to Zack and noticed him putting a potion to Jenova's lips, "Come on, drink up J." he said.

"She's not going to drink it." Minerva sighed.

"But she has to." Zack set the bottle down and went over to the door, "How about you get some rest?" he suggested. Minerva wanted to object, but she felt so weak. She needed to rest soon or she would be completely useless in the morning.

"Wake me up in a few hours." Minerva said. She tried to get comfortable on the floor, but that seemed impossible, "We'll trade spots then." She found herself looking to Jenova, she was worried about the girl, but she knew she shouldn't be. Jenova was getting what she deserved, "Goodnight." she murmured before falling asleep.

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova rolled over and found herself nose to nose with Minerva. She wrinkled her nose and rolled away, immediately regretting the action. She recalled the fight she'd had earlier and sighed, she should have never left the group. Her eyes were drawn to the piles of bags and bottles. They must have done a lot of fighting.

She felt that she'd done a good job, when she was fighting against one of them at least. Brianna had probably never fought anything before. "Jenova? Go back to sleep." Minerva mumbled.

"I am." Jenova replied. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain in her back. AT least Minarva wasn't questioning her about her little game of hide and seek. She opened her eyes and made sure Minerva was still asleep before groaning and sitting up.

"Jenova?" She looked towards Zack, "You okay?"

"Yeah." she mumbled. She could feel a lecture coming on.

"This is the third time I've had to carry you to safety." he noted.

"And the way things are going, it won't be the last." She smirked and crawled over to him, "When did you guys find me?"

"After we cleared this building out, I thought you'd been hiding while we fought." he said, "But Minerva was freaking out." Here we go, she thought dryly.

"I was hiding. I wanted to see how long it would take for you guys to notice my absense." she said.

"Sounds like something little kids do." Zack said.

"What're you trying to say?" she pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on them. She knew Zack was calling her childish, but what could she do about that?

_Kill him._

She ignored the voice in her head. She had no chance of killing Zack. She wasn't strong enough yet, maybe later.

"You're acting childish, and your making Minerva worried." Zack said. Jenova rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. It's just what she deserves." she muttered.

"She's sorry." Zack said, "She really is. Can't you see that?"

1…2...3...4... "I know she is, I can see it in her face. I can hear it in her voice." Jenova mumbled, "But I can't forgive her." 5...6...7...8

"What're you looking at?" Zack asked.

"Nothing." She almost felt embarrassed for doing something as childish as counting stars, but it calmed her down.

"These stars," he started, "They hurt my eyes. Are you tired?"

"Kind of, but I don't think I can get to bed." she said, "I mean, there is no bed, but I can't sleep."

"Minerva won't let you take a break tomorrow. Does that motivate you?" he asked.

"Almost." Jenova put her head down and found herself falling asleep. That was good, she needed sleep. Anything to distract her from the pain she was feeling.

Zack looked over to her and noticed her sleeping, he sighed and looked away. He didn't understand how Minerva could trust this girl so much. She seemed selfish and childish, yet she was Minerva's best friend. How? What would cause the Planet to befriend the Calamity? Maybe it was because they were human…

He felt something on his shoulder and turned down to see Jenova leaning onto him. He tried to push her away without waking her but she landed roughly on the floor. Still, she didn't wake up. Her face twisted in pain and she rolled away from him. He sighed, she did look innocent. Maybe that was why Minerva was having so much trouble.

He smiled softly as he suddenly thought of Aerith, she was always falling asleep against him. He wondered what she was doing up in the life stream. Everything must have been hectic up there without Minerva there. Unless… "Minerva!" he jumped to his feet and walked over to the sleeping girl, "Get up!"

"What is it? Is it my turn to keep watch?" she mumbled sleepily.

"No." Zack answered quickly, "I mean, yes. But that's not why I woke you up."

Minerva sat up and rubbed her eyes, "Really?" she asked.

"I was thinking. What if Aerith came down here too? Would she still be stuck here like me?" he asked, "Maybe she could help us out!"

"Shut up!" Jenova snapped.

"Make me!" he snapped back, "I bet she's with Cloud."

"Okay." Minerva said. Zack frowned, she wasn't too excited to hear that.

He sat down next to her and yawned, "We should look for her when we get to Edge." he said, "Maybe I'll do that while you talk to Cloud." He looked over to her, "I'm going to get some rest now okay?" he said, "Wake me up when you're ready to get going."

"Come on Zack! I just got back to sleep!" Jenova whined, "Shut up!"

"Well, I'm not talking anymore, it's just you." Zack smirked as he leaned back onto his elbows.

"Both of you stop." Minerva sighed, "You're attracting monsters." Zack nodded and layed down completely and closed his eyes. Minerva crawled over to Jenova and sighed, "Where did-" she stopped, "We should be able to get new clothes at the Gold Saucer." she said.

"Cool." Jenova didn't open her eyes.

"Leather?" Minerva smiled. Jenova opened her eyes and nodded.

"It's the only thing I've ever looked good in." she said. She sat up and looked away, "Oh yeah, I suppose I'm sorry for making you freak out today." she said.

"You suppose?" Minerva chuckled. She knew the only reason that Jenova was apologizing was because Zack had said something to her, but still she could tell Jenova was changing. "Don't be sorry, I suppose I should have noticed you were gone."

"Alright. If you're willing to take the blame then so be it." Jenova shrugged.

"Aren't you going to rest Jenova?" Zack asked, "Because if you aren't we can get going."

"Jenova's been sleeping all day." Minerva noted, "It's you who needs to rest."

"Nope." Zack sat up, "Come on Minerva, we don't have all the time in the world you know." He began gathering the gil and bottles and Minerva sighed. He was so restless.

"Dudes like one of those little puppies." Jenova rolled her eyes, "Can't you stop moving for a second?"

"Here," he threw a bottle her way and she caught it, "A potion. It'll help you walk for a little."

"Are we really leaving now?" Jenova looked to Minerva, "Now? It's still dark and I really don't feel like moving."

"But look, the sun will rise soon." Minerva pointed out, "I think it's best to start now." Jenova rolled her eyes and Minerva wondered briefly how she'd expected to destroy the planet with that type of motivation. "We have a little fruit left, she pointed to a bag, we should eat it." Zack picked it up and examined the contents.

"It's all bruised and squashed." he said, "I usually wouldn't eat food like this but I'm starving." He took one out and passed the bag to Minerva, she took one as well and noticed the fruit had lost it's glow. A part of her wondered if it was safe to eat anymore, still, she took a bite and grimaced at the taste. It tasted like sour bananas. "It doesn't taste too good." Zack said.

Minerva shoot her head and forced herself to eat the rest, "The Gold Saucer isn't far from here." she said.

"It better not be, I don't think I can handle much more of this." Minerva sighed as Jenova tossed the fruit to the ground and walked over to the supplies, "What do I carry?" she asked.

"Just a few bags of gil." Zack handed her some and then tied a few to his belt, "I wish I had a wallet."

"We have nothing else to Carry these in?" Jenova asked. Minerva looked towards the plastic bag they'd carried the fruit in and shook her head. She picked up the bottles and looked to Jenova, her hands were full as well. "What if we get attacked?"

"I can fight them." Zack said confidently, "I was a soldier after all."

Minerva bit her lip, she hoped they wouldn't have to face large groups of monsters. They were all pretty damaged, Jenova was hurt the most and it was obvious that they couldn't handle another round of monsters. She looked up and noticed Zack had already walked away.

"Doesn't he ever get tired?" Jenova asked before following. Minerva shrugged and followed as well.

0.o.0.o.0

"I have a question." Zack said after they'd been walking for a few minutes, "Why did they give you the name Jenova?"

"Because it's my name." she answered. She was a little happy to be hearing him talk. The walk so far had been so quiet and boring that she felt she might fall asleep if someone didn't speak up. She couldn't do it, she didn't have anything to say to them.

"It's the name the scientists at ShinRa gave you?" Zack asked.

"No, it's my real name." she answered, "The one my mother gave me when I was born."

"So how did they know to call you Jenova?" Zack asked. Jenova shrugged

"I whispered it to them." she said. And she had, when Hojo had proposed that she be called Gwyneth, she had to interfere. She'd used her power to transfer the name to him and he'd eaten that up. It had certainly inflated his ego to know that she had chosen him of all scientists to talk to.

"Really? You know, I've been thinking-

"You? Thinking?" she asked sarcastically.

"Come on now, we're having a civilized conversation." Zack sighed, "Now hear me out, we're like a super trio. I'm the leader because I'm the only guy and the strongest. Minerva is the second in command and Jenova is te reluctant sidecikd,"

"No nicknames?" Jenova asked.

"Nicknames are overrated." Zack said, "Our backstories are all we need."

"Do we have back stories?" Minerva asked.

"Minerva, the fallen goddess." he said, "Zack, a reincarnated soldier, and Jenova a slightly insane alien."

"Look there, we're almost there." Minerva said. Jenova looked forward and saw a the odd formation on the distant horizon. It didn't look the way she remembered. She'd only ever caught brief glances at it but it wasn't the odd tree-shaped formation it was before. Now it looked like a giant bowl, a golden saucer actually, with several smaller bowls on top of it.

"It looks like a tea-set." she said.

"Yeah, after Meteor it was destroyed. They had to rebuild it from scratch, they tried for something closer to it's name. a saucer is really just a plate after all."

"So they made it look like an oversized china cabinet?" Jenova asked, "Why couldn't they keep the old tree design?"

"Because sometimes change is necessary." Minerva shrugged, "Do you have a problem with that?" Jenova rolled her eyes and shook her head. She sometimes felt that Minerva was purposely trying to pick a fight with her. She probably wanted to hear Zack lecture her on being mature, as if he had any right to.

"I've only ever been there once." Zack said, "And it was amazing, buffets and chocobo races! Plus the battle arena, it took me forever to convince Angeal to let me fight there."

"I don't imagine it was any fun for you, all the battles would have been too easy for someone as strong as you." Jenova said thoughtfully.

"Was that a complement?" Zack smirked.

"I suppose, even I can recognize a good fighter when I see one." she shrugged, "You would have been no match for me though."

"Not in the past, but now I could beat you down in 2 seconds!" Zack said.

"Yeah, it sucks." Jenova mumbled. She hated being this weak, even Minerva was stronger then her. She'd expected to gain at least some of her power when she'd taken over Brianna's body but that didn't happen. Now, she was just a regular girl with heightened senses. "Is it open this early?" she asked.

"It doesn't really close. I know the races stop at some point, but you can get in at any time." Zack said, "Minerva?"

"What?"

"Can we watch the races? Or at least spend time in the battle arena?" Zack asked, "Please? We have to!"

"I guess, but I don't think we should stay there too long." Minerva said, "2 days at the most."

"Minerva, give your body time to rest." Jenova sighed, "And mine too." She wondered how fatigued the other girl actually was. She looked exhausted, but maybe that's how she always looked. No, that couldn't be. When they'd first met at Costa Del Sol, she was the picture of health. "You know you're tired."

"She's right." Zack said reluctantly, "Even I know that, how far do you expect to get like this?"

"I guess.." Minerva said. Jenova knew that she wasn't planning on heeding any of their warnings. They would leave in 2 days, whether they were healed or not.

"If we run, we can make it there in an hour." Zack said, "Even quicker if Jenova carries me."

"Not happening." Jenova said, "My hands are full."

"Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can rest." Zack said, "Just run, I won't make you carry me." Zack started to run and Jenova sighed. She looked towards Minerva for instructions.

"Just follow him." Minerva closed her eyes, "I'll teleport there."

"And if you get attacked?" Jenova asked.

"Nice to know you care." Minerva said, "Just go." Jenova rolled her eyes and readjusted the bags of gil in her arms. She cast one more glance to Minerva before starting to run. She picked up speed ad easily passed Zack. Her back seemed to be against her, it tightened up and flared in pain every time her foot hit the ground. She closed in on the Gold Saucer and skidded to a stop. She fell to her knees and bit her lip. She hurt all over and didn't think she could get up anytime soon.

"Are you okay?" Minerva teleported beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"No." she answered before forcing herself to her feet, "No, this all hurts too much." Nothing compared to the pain she'd felt the first night after taking her new body, but it was pretty close. She looked behind her and saw Zack was still far behind.

"He's pretty slow." Minerva commented.

"Why did he come with us again?" Jenova asked.

"We needed his help. He's going to help us once we find Cloud." Minerva said.

"And until then?" Jenova asked.

"You better make sure he has something nice to say about you once we get to Edge." Minerva said.

"If I don't?" Jenova asked, "Would that make a difference?"

"If Zack doesn't believe Cloud should help, then I doubt they'll even think twice about killing you." Minerva said. Jenova stiffened at those words. The last thing she wanted to do was die.

"I guess…" she murmured. She stayed quiet as Zack finally caught up to them.

"See? Look how much time we saved, it's still early." he said breathlessly.

"Yeah, can we get inside now?" Jenova asked, "I'm really tired."

"Your back is bleeding, it's those burns." Zack said.

"Yeah, I guess running did some damage." she shrugged.

"Uh, follow me." Zack took her arm and started walking, "There has to be someway into this place." Jenova allowed him to lead her as she looked up and examined the towering building. The saucer looked much larger now that they were closer to it. "This thing is huge." Zack commented, "But look, there's a booth." He rushed towards it and let her arm go.

"I hope we have enough." Minerva mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Zack knocked on the window of the booth, "How do we get into this place?"

"It's pretty early, we don't usually get people this early." the man in the booth sat up and looked them over, "Not doing to well are you?"

"No, now can we get a room?" Jenova asked impatiently.

"10,000 gil." the man said. Jenova had a feeling the amount had been thought of randomly, but she didn't care. She tossed a few bags to him and allowed him to count it. After a moment he nodded and gestured towards the wall. A set of golden doors that had been carefully hidden opened up. "Please enjoy your stay." he said.

Jenova followed Zack in and sighed, "I can't walk much more."

"Stop complaining, that's your own fault." Minerva said. Jenova scowled her way. Hadn't she apologized for running off? Why was she still bringing it up?

"Hotels are this way." Zack said. They walked and saw a cluster of hotels, "We can watche the chocobo races tomorrow." They entered the closest building and walked up to the counter, "We need 2 rooms." ZAck said.

"One, we can share." Minerva spoke up.

"One room then." Zack said.

The woman behind the counter studied them closely. She looked to Jenova and narrowed her eyes, "I don't know if that's a good idea." she said, "The last time one of you came here, an entire room was destroyed." Jenova smirked, she must have been talking about the remnants.

"You can trust her." Zack said, "RIght now at least."

"She reminds me of Sephiroth, and we all know how unreliable he turned out." the woman said, "Have you been killing? You're covered in blood."

"It's my blood." Jenova shrugged, "I'm bleeding to death as we speak."

The woman's eyes widened a fraction before narrowing again, "I can give you a room, but I'll be keeping my eye on you." she said. She then looked to Zack, "What are you doing with these girls?"

"They're my kids." Zack said.

"You don't look a day over 25! How do you have kids this old?" the woman asked.

"What's with the questions?" Jenova snapped, "Can you just give us a room?"

"200 gil." the woman said. Jenova rolled her eyes and handed the woman the money. Why did they have to pay 10,00 to get in and another 200 for a room? The woman handed the key to Zack and he walked away. Jenova followed quickly, she could feel the woman's eyes on her and it was making her angry.

"Who does she think she is?" she muttered as the reached their room.

"Your reputation precedes you miss Jenova." Minerva said, "What do you expect?" Jenova shrugged and dropped her bags onto the floor. She walked towards one of the beds and kicked off her shoes. "Do you think you should shower first?" Minerva said, "You're bleeding and I think we should get you cleaned up before you go to sleep."

"I have nothing else to wear." Jenova sighed and collapsed onto the bed, "When are we going shopping?"

"I'll teleport out of here tomorrow while you guys go and watch the races." Minerva said.

"Why don't you want to stay and relax?" Jenova asked.

"There are more important things to do." Minerva shrugged, "Don't worry, I'll pick something comfortable for you to wear." Minerva crawled into bed beside her and Zack into the other bed.

"You know, it's only 7." he said, "In the morning."

"Yeah, I plan on sleeping until it's 7 tomorrow." Jenova said. She heard him reply but couldn't make out what he said. She was too weary, in a few minutes she would be out.

0.o.0.o.0

When Minerva woke up it was 2 in the afternoon. Jenova and Zack were still asleep and she saw it as an opportune time to go out and get supplies. She might be able to teleport as far as Rocket Town to stock up. She didn't want to go to far in case the amount of supplies she gathered became too much for her.

She sat up in winced in pain. Her injuries seemed to have gotten worse while she was resting. "Are you leaving?" Jenova asked. Minerva didn't answer, she could tell Jenova wasn't fully awake anyway. She forced herself out of the bed and towards the gil on the floor. She'd leave them a few thousand and take the rest.

She counted the gil and separated it before getting up and walking to the bathroom. She wanted to clean up just a little before going out. Not only was she wearing a fast food uniform, but she was covered in monster goo. She already knew that she was going to draw some eyes, but she wanted to lessen the amount by as much as possible.

After a few minutes, she was ready to go. She collected the gil and teleported to Rocket Town. The town seemed to be rather empty. She knew this was where Cid lived and she briefly wondered if the town was doing alright. It looked far too empty for it to be the afternoon, shouldn't there be kids playing?

She shook the thought from her head and looked for the item shop. She found it in a broken down building near the town entrance, there was a tattered sign hanging over the door. "Rocket Traveling." A part of her wondered how many people actually traveled outside of town. As she entered the shop, a young boy looked up an smiled.

"Finally!" he almost shouted, "Please tell me you're here to buy something."

"Yes." she answered.

"Thank the goddess!" he clapped his hands together, "No one ever comes here. Only once in a while to buy a potion or something."

"Yeah." she looked around. Everything looked fairly cheap. She wondered if she could buy new weapons as well as clothes and supplies. They really needed to have something real to fight with, the tattered swords they had wouldn't cut it for long.

"You aren't from around here are you?" the boy asked. Minerva noted that he had a similar accent to Cid's.

"No." she said.

"That's a pretty weird outfit you have there." he pointed out. Minerva rolled her eyes, the reason no one came in was probably because he was so annoying. "Hey, will you be staying in town for long?" he asked.

"No." Minerva answered abruptly. Just as she said it, a man came into the shop.

"Oh! I hope Henry wasn't bothering you." he said. Minerva gave him a look and the man laughed, "Yeah, he tries…" The man walked behind the counter, "What do you need?" he asked.

"Potions and phoenix downs and somas, and ethers, and maybe a tent and sleeping bags and rope and hunting stuff and-

"Long list." Henry commented, "Where are you going?"

"Edge." she answered, "I have some important stuff to do."

"You'll need a lot." the man said, "Take whatever you need and we'll discuss a price later." Minerva nodded and watched them leave the room through some large door. She turned towards the shop'd inventory and looked over the prices. Everything seemed reasonable, but she didn't know how much they would need. Perhaps they could skip out on magic related items and rely more on strength? No, they didn't have much of that. Then again, they had no magic and she was having trouble calling her usual abilities. It seemed her powers were fading much like Jenova's. She wondered if it was permanent.

After gathering what she needed, she waited carefully at the counter for the men to return. She ran her hand through her hair and was not surprised when it got stuck halfway through. She couldn't wait to take a shower.

"Look at all this stuff!" Henry shouted as he came back into the room, look at this Sam!"

"Yeah, she has a long journey. You're going by foot?" Sam asked.

"Yes, we're going to Nibelheim, then to Coast Del Sol, then to Edge." she replied. It seemed like a long journey, she wondered if she could somehow get a car.

"Then you'll need a lot more then this." Sam said,"The land between here and Nibelheim is packed with monsters and abandoned camps. I think I can give you a few necessary items for free."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Tents, knives, cooking sets. You'll need it all, there are no towns in between and I would hate to think that you're roughing it with just potions and ethers." Sam laughed.

"Are you going alone?" Henry asked.

"No, I have my sister and my older brother with me." she said, "They're at a hotel now."

"I see, 3 sleeping bags then." Sam said. He began to gather the items and calculate the price, "This wouls usually be around 50,000 gil." he commented, "But since we're closing down, you can have it all for 10,000."

"Thank you." she smiled, but she could tell her smile wasn't as bright as it could be.

"You should take a few days before you head out." Sam said, "You don't look too healthy."

And truthfully, she didn't feel to healthy either, but they didn't have time to rest, "Yeah, I will." she nodded. She would take a day, she promised Zack at least that long at the Gold Saucer. After paying for the items, she allowed Sam to help her get it all situated in her arms before she nodded and left the town. She walked for a little time before teleporting back to their hotel room. She quickly put the items down and stretched, she was stiff all over. She wanted to get out of there and to a clothes shop before they woke up, she didn't want to be forced into anything and she knew that if they both asked her, she'd end up saying yes.

But she hated the Gold Saucer, the very idea of it made her sick. People walked around eating fried animals and watching chocobos run for their amusement. It wasn't right, maybe she only felt that way because she loved all life, but still… she wouldn't take any part in it.

She looked up and saw Jenova and Zack were still asleep, that meant she would have to take her time buying clothes if she wanted them to be gone by the time she returned. She walked over to Zack's bed, she needed to get his size. She lifted the blanket and noticed he was shirtless. Her eyes traveled downwards slowly until she realized that he probably wasn't wearing pants. She dropped the blanket and turned away blushing, she didn't have any feelings for Zack, but seeing him naked was something that would make any girl blush… right?

"Minerva? Can you shut off the lights?" he mumbled sleepily.

"It's the sun Zack.' she replies.

"Oh." Zack sat up and shoved his blankets to the floor, "I slept well last night." he stood and began to stretch, "You went out already? Did you finish?"

"No, I still need to buy clothes." she looked down, Zack looked really nice despite the grime that covered his arms, his very muscular arms.

"So…" she started, "Your clothes?"

"Yeah, it was hot. I took them off." Zack explained, he made no move to cover himself though.

"That's not what I meant. What size do you wear?" she asked.

"No idea. You don't need to buy me new clothes, I can wash what I have. It's a lot more durable than any regular clothes." Zack said. Zack bent over and pulled his clothes from under the bed, "I'm going to wash them now."

"Okay." Minerva watched him enter the bathroom before teleporting back to Rocket Town. She'd spotted the clothing store earlier, it was further into town. She walked over to it, careful not to draw too much attantion to herself and went inside.

The inside of the store seemed empty. Maybe business was failing in the entire town. "Hello?" she called. A small girl ran up to her and smiled.

"Hello! My name is Sadie." she said,

"And my name is Minerva." she replied with a smiled.

"Why do you look hurt?" Sadie asked, "Did you fall?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "No need to worry though."

"Okay, I'll get my mommy." she skipped out of the room and Minerva looked around. There wasn't a lot of black in the store, Jenova would have to do with some other color. As long as it wasn't white, she was sure Jenova wouldn't mind. "That's her mommy!" she heard Sadie whisper anxiously, "She fell!"

"All right, calm down." an older woman laughed, "Can I help you."

"I need to buy clothes for my friend and I." she explained.

"Looks like you need more then just clothes." the woman laughed, "How did you get so roughed up?"

"My friend and I have been traveling for a while, we were recently attacked by monsters." she said.

"Monsters?" Sadie asked, "They can be scary."

"Where's your friend?" the woman asked.

"At our campsite he's resting now." Minerva said, "She's too hurt to move so I came to get supplies."

"I understand, let me help you out so you can get back to her." the woman took her hand, "My name is Rhea."

"I'm Minerva." she said,

"That's a very beautiful name." Rhea commented.

"It's like the goddess we learned about in Sunday school." Sadie said.

"Come to the back and get cleaned up, I'll find you some clothes." she said, "And some food too, you look ready to drop."

"What?" Minerva shook her head, "You don't need to do that, I'll buy the clothes and go."

"I wouldn't feel right if I sent you out like this." Rhea said, "You don't look like you can handle it."

"But I have to get back to Jenny." she said.

"I understand that, but this won't take long." Rhea said, "I'll give you enough food for two. Now what kind of clothes would you like?"

"Well, I'm looking for something comfortable, we've got a long journey ahead of us." she said, "But Jenova likes black." Rhea let go of her hand and Sadie took it.

"Our house is this way." Sadie said, "And the bathroom is here." Sadie pointed to a door and led her to it, "Take your time." Minerva nodded and entered the bathroom. She closed the door after herself and leaned against it. She shouldn't be in such a rush, if she wanted to get back to the hotel after Jenova and Zack went out she had best take advantage of Rhea's kindness and the shower that came with it. She didn't know when she'd get another one, so she was going to take her time and enjoy it.

0.o.0.o.0

After a moment of watching chocobo races, Jenova had made the difficult decision to escape from the arena. She just couldn't get into them like Zack could. He seemed completely absorbed in the race and hadn't even noticed her leaving. What he found interesting about yellow birds running around she's never know.

She stuck her hands in her pocket and felt the gil Zack had given her, 3,000 for whatever she wanted. But she couldn't think of anything other then the T-shirt she'd already purchased. What was she supposed to do? As she exited the arena she noticed a souvenir shop right across form it. It had a bright yellow chocobo sign and seemed like the only interesting thing to do. Maybe she would get something for Minerva, she liked animals so maybe a shirt with a chocobo on it.

She walked into the store and grimaced at the smell. It smelled like animals, wild animals. She looked around and saw a lack of shirts and an overabundance of animal cages. It was a pet shop. This one specifically seemed to sell domesticated monsters. Tonberries, Cactuars, Chocobos, only the cute monsters really.

She reached into the chocobo cage and pulled out a slightly graying egg. She shook it slightly and walked up to the counter, "I want this, how much?" she asked as she examined the egg. She wondered what color the chocobo inside was. It didn't look like the shopkeeper did any special breeding, but maybe it was different.

"Where's your mother?" the shopkeeper asked, "I can't sell animals without parental permission."

"Listen here, I'm 26 years old. My parents are dead and if you won't sell it to me, I'll steal it." she said seriously, "Now, how much?" She felt the egg shake and she gasped, it was hatching! The shopkeeper snatched it out of her hand and smiled.

"It's hatching!" he said as he went into a different room. Jenova followed him and he moved to stop her, "Customers aren't allowed back here." She said nothing, and he understood what that meant. She wasn't leaving.

"How long is this going to take?" she asked.

"Fairly soon, but why don't you pick another one?" the shopkeeper suggested.

"Nah, I want that one." she said stubbornly, "I'm staying until it's ready." She watched as a grey beak poked it's way through the shell. She figured it would be easier to open the egg for the poor thing but she knew how important it apparently was to let them do it by themselves.

The chocobo managed to poke the crown of its head through the hole it had made for a split second before retracting and trying to break more away. Jenova smiled as she realized that the chocobo was black. That was even better.

She couldn't wait for the thing to grow to full size, if it ever got the chance to. Minerva probably wouldn't let it come along. She couldn't force her to get rid of it, but still she'd hide it. "So how much will he cost?" she asked.

"2,000 gil." the shopkeeper said. Perfect, she'd have some extra leftover.

0.o.0.o.0

Zack stood at the betting window and collected the money. The chocobo he'd bet on had just won and now he'd doubled his money. Maybe he would use the money to buy a sword or something. He was tired of using the tiny old sword they'd found. He pocketed the money and sighed, now he had to find Jenova. Why did she have to run off every time someone turned their head?

She was going to get seriously hurt if she didn't stop. Right now they were in a crowded place and there were several perverts around who would love to harm her. He knew it to be true, several girls were sexually assaulted in this place and he knew Jenova wouldn't to be able to fight any predator off.

He sighed, he never figured he'd be one to worry about the Calamity's safety. But right now she was a defenseless kid, and he couldn't let her get hurt. Maybe he was worrying way too much, it was still early, no one would even try anything like that. He looked up just as she walked out of the shop in front of him. "Jenova!" he walked over to her, "Why did you run off?"

"I didn't, I walked." she shrugged, "But look at this!" she held out her hands and showed him the small black chocobo.

"I don't know if Minerva will let you keep that." he said, "I don't know if we should anyway."

"Minerva likes animals," Jenova said, "She wouldn't want me to leave him to the monsters."

"Yeah but" he started.

"We have to get on a roller coaster before she gets back." Jenova said. Jenova started to walk away and Zack rolled his eyes. Why couldn't she just listen for once?

0.o.0.o.0


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy

Chapter 7

Minerva changed into her new clothes, she'd be wearing this for a while. At least she assumed she would be, their next stop was… well she didn't know. They might just travel and fight monsters until they found a ferry to take them across the waters.

She pulled a pair of leggings on and stood up, she smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress and admired herself in the mirror. She had to admit, she looked good. It was a shame that these clothes would be covered in monster guts in a few days.

"Are you done Minerva?" Sadie called into the bathroom, "I got you some boots."

"Yeah I'm done." she answered. She opened the door for Sadie to come in.

"I picked them out myself, they're comfy boots and they match your clothes." she handed Minerva the boots and waited for her to put them on. "I think they're your size." she said.

Minerva slipped the boots on and smiled, "You got it right." she said, "They're just my size." Sadie laughed and took a comb out of her pocket.

"Your hair has knots in it." she started to run the comb through her hair, "You have pretty hair." she said. Minerva drifted into her thoughts as Sadie talked on. She couldn't feel Ruby weapon or any of the other weapons presence. But that might've been bad. If she couldn't tell where they were, they could just as well be right outside the Gold Saucer.

Minerva sighed and closed her eyes, "What's wrong?" Sadie asked. Minerva opened her eyes and forced a smile onto her face.

"Nothing, I was just thinking." she said.

"I finished your hair." she ran out into the living room, Minerva got up and followed. "Mom she's ready." Sadie yelled, she turned back to Minerva, "She made you mountain stew." Sadie led her into the small kitchen.

Rhea was pouring the contents of a pot into a large container. "Your friends clothes are right there." she said. There was a small bag on the table, Minerva took a seat and looped the bag around her shoulder. "I hope none of you are lactose intolerant, there's milk in here." She said.

Minerva smiled, "No we're not." she could smell it already. This would be the first hot meal since the fried chocobo she'd brought, but that couldn't really be counted. That was 4 days ago, and after tonight, all they'd be having was ramen noodles and maybe fruit. All money needed to be saved, so she probably shouldn't have let Jenova and Zack have so much money.

"You look sick, you need to lie down?" Rhea asked, she set the container of stew down on the table.

"No, I really should be going." she said, "But thanks anyway." she smiled and stood up. She was feeling a little sick, but she was willing to pass it off as hunger.

"Alright, maybe when you get where your going you'll give me a call?" Rhea said, "Just to make sure you're safe."

"Alright." Minerva smiled

"You never told me where you were going." Rhea said.

"Midgar… to see family." she said.

"That's a long way to go on foot, especially if your friend is hurt." Rhea said, her face was masked in concern, "Maybe you should stay here until your friend is better. Or maybe you could rest, it'll help if one of you can walk."

Minerva smiled, "Fine, but I can't take long." she said.

X. x. X. x. X.

Jenova strapped herself into the seat and swung her feet, Zack sat down next to her and strapped himself in, "You can't take the chocobo on the ride." he said.

"Why not?" she asked, "I thought chocobo ran all the time? It's just getting practice."

"But it's just a baby, it'll suffocate or something." he said.

Jenova rolled her eyes, "Whatever, he's in my shirt. He'll be fine." she said. The chocobo poked its head from her shirt and chirped, "See? He loves it in there." A speaker came on and people started to cheer, "What's happening?" Jenova asked. She sounded a little nervous.

A sly smile formed on Zack's face, "The ride is starting, haven't you ever been on a roller coaster before?" he asked.

"Well no, but I heard some people talking about it. It seems fun." she said.

"Oh no, so you're telling me this is your fist time?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You are going to die, especially when the cart flies off the track."

"What?" she asked, her eyes widened a tiny bit.

The ride took off and Zack chuckled, "Only a few people live, this is a ride of chances, there's a one in 300 chance you'll live!" he shouted, He saw Jenova's eyes widened and he laughed, "But I'm sure you'll do fine!"

Jenova gripped the handles of the seat until her knuckles turned white. Why would people get on something like this? It seemed dangerous, yet so many people said it was fun. This wasn't what she was expecting, a bunch of twists and turns with wind blowing in her face. To make matters worse, they were in the front. Sure it was nice to see what was happening, but that also meant she would see when the cart flew off the track, and she didn't want that. The ride slowed down as it started up a rather large hill.

"What now?" she asked nervously.

"This is the part, you go up a hill and the ride sends you barreling down and you fly off!" he said. Jenova squeezed her eyes shut and the chocobo fluttered inside of her shirt. Poor thing was probably dying.

"Why did you let me get on this ride?" she asked.

"You're a tough little girl, you can handle it." he smiled as they reached the top and started speeding up. Several people on the ride screamed, along with Jenova. Zack on the other hand was laughing his head off, whenever he managed to look at her she was screaming for her life. He had to admit, it was a pretty steep drop, but he hadn't screamed half as much on his first roller coaster ride.

Then again his first roller coaster ride was a kiddy roller coaster. But Jenova was just overreacting. The ride pulled to a stop and Jenova glared at him. "I thought we were going to fly off the track!" she said.

"It was a joke." Zack laughed and began to undo his seatbelt. Jenova lifted the seat belt over her haed and stumbled out of the ride. She was feeling a little shaky and was ready to throw up the hotdog she'd just devoured. Benny poked out of her shirt and fell to the ground.

"Oh no! Benny…" Jenova leaned down and picked up the chocobo. It chirped angrily in her face and she sighed in relief, it was still alive.

"How about another roller coaster?" Zack said.

"Yeah, I'll just take him back to our room and we'll get on the next one." she said absently. She turned and started to walk to the hotel.

If Minerva was there, she'd hide it in her shirt like with the roller coaster. "I need you to keep quiet, got that?" she said. Maybe Minerva would want it, she liked animals. Minerva was a good person. Benny sat down in her hands and chirped. The hotel was on the first floor of the Gold Saucer. She hated the design of the place, they said they'd changed it since Meteor. It was more accessible, but it still had the same overall design. Who cared if it was sitting on the ground now? Who cared if it now had large gold walls built around it so that it looked like a giant golden bowl? She didn't that's for sure, it all should have been on the ground in her opinion."

It was inconvenient to Jenova, she didn't want to walk through the entire theme park just to get down to her hotel. She'd have to destroy this place later on. If the weapons didn't kill her first that is. She paused for a brief second, since when did she think like that?

She shook her head and sped up her walk to the hotel. "Mommy look a chocobo baby!" a kid shouted. Jenova rolled her eyes at the kid and kept walking. Benny was getting comfortable in her hands, but her arms were getting tired.

"Hey you, don't you dare go to sleep." she said. The chocobo opened an eye and chirped. Jenova looked at her clothes, there was no place to put him. She sighed and found the elevator. "First floor here we come." she said. She stepped into it when someone else ran in.

"Thanks for holding it for me." he said. Jenova ignored him, she didn't remember holding the doors for him, she remembered hoping the doors closed before he got anywhere near the elevator. "That's a pretty bird you've got there." he said.

"Uh huh." she said.

"It looks like it was just hatched." he said.

"It was." she said quickly.

"Do you think its safe to have it out of the incubator?" he asked curiously.

"Who cares?" Jenova snapped. He had to realize she didn't want to talk to him. But no, he kept talking.

"It can be dangerous you know." apparently this guy couldn't take hints.

"I don't like you." she said bluntly. The man looked shock for a second, but it instantly faded away and he laughed.

"You're a very pretty girl, I bet your parents are just delighted to have you around." he said. Jenova noticed him moving closer and she scooted away.

"Yeah, my parents just died." she said. The man wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze.

"How terrible, do you need a place to stay?" he asked.

Jenova shook his arm away, "No you old pervert!" she said. The elevator doors opened and she sped out. It was a little creepy when she was hit on by old men. Her hotel was right around the corner. She stuffed the bird into her shirt and went inside. The coast was clear so far. She rushed into her room and sat down on the bed. "Perfect, we're all alone." she pulled him out of her shirt and placed him on her pillow.

"Jenova?" Minerva asked. Jenova jumped, she hadn't even heard her teleport in!

"Uh, hey." she said, she moved her body in front of the chocobo. "That's a nice dress."

"Who were you talking to?" she asked.

"No one." Jenova said. Benny chirped and she rolled her eyes, "I told you to be quiet." she hissed at it.

"What is it?" Minerva walked over and pushed Jenova out of the way, "a chocobo? Jenova…"

"Come on! I already paid for him! We got on a roller coaster together, we yelled at a pervy man together. We've been through so much… I can't get rid of it." she said firmly.

"We have no food for him." Minerva said.

Jenova thought, she'd paid for some food, 500 gil's worth of it… but she forgot to take it. "I'll work it out." she said stubbornly.

"That's not fair to the chocobo." Minerva said.

"It wouldn't be fair if I got rid of it either." Jenova tried, "Besides they don't do refunds." she was guessing now but it seemed likely. "If I got rid of it that what be a waste of money."

Minerva glared, "Jenova we're not taking it with us!" she said.

Jenova started to pout, it worked with Zack maybe it could work with Minerva, "But… he's my friend…I already named him." she said quietly.

Minerva narrowed her eyes, "You can't we'll be doing a lot of fighting, it'll just get in the way." she tried. Jenova's face grew even sadder and Minerva sighed, she didn't like seeing people sad, especially not her best friend. Well… at least she thought they were friends, she didn't know. Maybe Jenova was still trying for revenge, if she let her guard down Jenova would strike. She couldn't forget Jenova's intentions, her life depended on it. "Uh… fine, you can keep it." she mumbled.

"Really!" Jenova's face instantly changed and she smiled, "Thank you!" she stood up and wrapped her arms around Minerva, "You're the best!" Minerva stiffened and Jenova let go. Jenova skipped out of the room and left the chocobo behind.

Minerva collapsed onto the bed and sighed. She closed her eyes, she was feeling sick still. Jenova ran back into the room, "Minerva! You have to get on the roller coasters with me and Zack!" She pulled her out of the bed and towards the door.

"No, I don't feel to good." she said.

"That's because you haven't had any fun today." Jenova continued to pull Minerva out of the room, "But if you get on one roller coaster you'll feel better."

Minerva rolled her eyes and followed willingly, she was sure that wasn't it but Jenova wasn't letting go. Jenova rambled on about the last one she'd gotten on. From what Minerva was hearing, it sounded like she was scared of the ride. So why get on another one?

They entered an elevator and Minerva slumped against one of the walls, she'd only started feeling worse since they left the room. "Jenova, I really don't feel too good." she muttered. Jenova ignored her and kept talking. Maybe she wasn't talking loud enough, she couldn't get her voice to get any louder then it was at the moment.

The elevator doors opened and Jenova grabbed her hand again, she led her through crowds of people, "Zack's over here." she pointed, "That's the ride we're getting on, it's called the superhero." The ride she pointed to reminded her of one of the drawings she made as a three year old. Just a mess of loops and squiggles. How could people enjoy that stuff? "Hey Zack!" Jenova waved her arms and stopped in front of Zack, "I brought Minerva!"

"Why? She looks horrible." Zack said.

"No she doesn't! This outfit is very pretty on her." Jenova said.

"that's not what I meant. She looks sick, it's not a good idea to put a sick person on a roller coaster. All you'd be doing is shaking her up." Zack said.

"She just needs to have fun." Jenova said stubbornly, "Come on let's get in line." she pulled Minerva into line, "We have too, we're leaving tomorrow."

"Are you sure we should do that? She's sick."

"We have too." Minerva spoke up, "Ruby weapon moves fast, and she can feel any threat to the planet, Meaning Jenova."

"But how far can we get, we don't have transportation and your sick." Zack said.

"You can carry her." Jenova said. Zack stepped in front of them.

"No, she's sick and we need rest. Let's go." he said. He pushed them out of line and towards the elevators. Jenova groaned loudly and Zack rolled his eyes. He was learning more about Jenova each day, she didn't think about other's at all. Minerva on the other hand was nice and got worried easily, she sacrificed her time for them. He'd have to talk to Jenova, this trip would be too hard if Jenova kept acting like a bratty teenager.

They entered the elevator and Zack pressed the button and waited. Everyone was silent, Jenova was fuming and Minerva was half asleep on her shoulder. It wasn't too late but they needed the rest, especially since they had stuff to carry now. "What do you have?" Jenova asked, "Will you need medicine?" Zack kept listening, it sounded like Jenova was showing concern. "Because if you do that's to bad. We're out of money." Zack sighed loudly and shook his head, they were out of money, but Minerva didn't need to tell her that. It would just get her worried.

"Come on." The elevator doors opened and Zack walked out quickly. Jenova followed with Minerva leaning on her for support. The hotel wasn't too far, but Minerva wasn't going to be awake much longer. Jenova sped up and they made it to their room just in time. Minerva collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

"Jenova we need to talk." Zack said.

"about what?" she asked.

"You

"Me?" Jenova narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"You've been a little selfish, buying animals without asking, going missing because your not getting enough attention, and dragging your sick friends out to ride roller coasters." he said, "You need to start thinking about other people."

Jenova rolled her eyes and got into bed, "Whatever." she said.

"I'm serious!" he said.

"Now you're not thinking about others. Minerva's asleep and you're being loud." she said. Zack gritted his teeth and got into bed. She was a lost cause, he didn't have time for it.

"You're an egotistical bastard, the last kind of person I want to be around." he mumbled.

Jenova laid down as well and tried to sleep, she had no idea why but she felt the need to change his opinion for her. Probably had something to do with her past. She fell asleep, hoping not to see anymore memories.

X. x. X. x. X.

Minerva was still sick when they woke up, in fact she was worse then before. They couldn't exactly go out with her like this, so they decided to stay another day. To Zack's surprise, Jenova didn't try to leave the hotel room once, she stayed at Minerva's side all day. She looked deep in thought, so maybe what he'd said to her the night before had gotten to her. He hoped see didn't take it too bad, that could cause problems.

"Hey Jenova, I'm going to see if there's any medicine I can get, I have a few gil left." Zack said.

"Uh huh." Jenova said absently. She petted her chocobo and waved him off, "You should go." she said. Zack left the room and she closed her eyes. How could she change his mind? It wouldn't make since to do it soon, he'd think she cared about what he had to say. And she didn't. She looked down at Minerva and sighed, "You know we have to get going soon. Tomorrow, Ruby weapon or something will find us." she said.

Minerva cracked an eye open a little, "I know…" she said.

"Oh, you're awake." Jenova opened her eyes, "Did I wake you?"

"No…" Minerva rolled over and opened both eyes, "We should leave tonight."

"No. we can't, you're sick." Jenova said.

"Look out the window, what do you see?" Minerva asked tiredly. Jenova dropped Benny and got up, she pulled the curtains out of the way, "I see the walls of the Gold Saucer." she said, "Why?"

"That's right, you can't see outside this place." Minerva mumbled, "But I can feel it… Diamond weapon is near us." she said.

"Oh, should we fight it?" she asked. She eyed the swords and looked back Minerva, "Is that a good idea?"

"No, just change into your new clothes, they're in the bag." she pointed to the pile of bags on the floor, "Hurry."

Jenova started to look through the bags, "Zack went to find medicine." she said.

"I don't need medicine." Minerva mumbled, "It's just a fever, it'll be gone before you know it." she sat up and swung her legs out of bed. She was feeling horrible but they needed to get out of there quickly. Ruby weapon would find them too if they didn't hurry. Jenova found her clothes and went into the bathroom. Minerva stood up and tried to pick up a bag. Her arms shook and she dropped it. She groaned and kneeled next to the pile. Maybe she did need medicine…

Jenova exited the bathroom in her new clothes and put the old ones onto the bed, "It fits good." she said. She placed Benny in the pocket of the Jacket, "And Benny has a place to sit." Zack came back into the room with a small packet of pills.

"I got some pills, they reduce fevers." he said, he looked up at the girls and sighed, "Minerva, what are you doing out of bed?" he asked, his eyes instantly flicked to Jenova.

"Don't look at me, this was her idea." she said.

"Diamond weapon is near." she mumbled, "We have to go."

Jenova thought for a few seconds before an idea popped into her head, "I got it!" she smiled, "If the weapons are looking for me, I'll just run away. You can come find me when you get better."

Minerva shook her head, "No way. I'm not leaving you alone." she said.

"But you have to." Jenova said.

"I'll take the pills and come with you." Minerva said stubbornly, "You need me."

"And you need rest. Which is more important to you?" she asked, "Your health or me?"

She was expecting Minerva to say her health, but she didn't. "You're more important." she muttered. Jenova looked down with her eyes wide.

"W-what?" she asked.

Minerva stood up and walked over to Zack, he handed her the pills. "You're my best friend." she said quietly. Jenova bit her lip and stayed quiet. That was not what she expected, she thought Minerva hated her…

"Well if we really have to go…" Zack picked up a bag and gave one to Jenova. They separated the supplies evenly and headed out. They couldn't see diamond weapon yet, but Minerva felt it getting closer. "Where to now?"

"Um, we can go to a town near water… they have ferries usually. We can get to Midgar that way." Minerva said.

"Then find Cloud and Aerith, how long will this take?" Jenova asked.

"A while, and even longer if we don't leave now, Diamond weapon isn't as fast as the others so we should be okay. That is until Ultimate weapon finds us…" Minerva pocketed the pills and opened the door, "Come on. It's maybe a few hundred miles away."

"A few hundred?" Jenova muttered, "You know, before we found Zack you said we were like level two, but we fought a bunch of monsters. What level are we now?"

"Well I am level 78." Zack said.

"And us?" Jenova asked.

"Level 2." Minerva muttered.

"Still?" Jenova groaned, "How do we get to level 3?"

Minerva shrugged and kept walking. They returned the key at the front desk and exited the hotel. Zack stayed behind Minerva, in case she fell and Jenova led the way. A town near water, that shouldn't be hard to find one. But with Minerva sick they'd be taking several breaks in between. Zack put the trip at about a month or so, unless Minerva got better, then maybe a few weeks. Still a long monster fighting journey.

Seeing as Minerva had gotten tents and sleeping bags, they wouldn't need to look to far for places to stay. "The next stop is Nibelheim." Minerva mumbled.

"Nibelheim? Brings back memories." Zack said.

"We don't have to stay there." Minerva said, "We could continue on to North Corel."

"No, it's fine." Zack said. He stopped and set his bags down, "Let's take a break." he started to pull at her bags.

"Set up camp here? It's still early, we could get a lot closer." Minerva said.

"I know, we're not setting up camp, we're taking a break." Zack said.

"I think we should keep going, Diamond is still on our trail…" she said

"Stop straining yourself, it'll be a short break." He turned to Jenova, "Go on sit down, we'll have a snack and keep going." he managed to get Minerva to sit down, Then he started searching the bags. "We have to climb the mountain to get there, there will be monsters. It's good to be rested and ready for a fight." He found a few protein bars. "Take the medicine Minerva."

"I figured we wait until it was time to rest for that." She pulled out the small packet and read it over, "It says it'll make me sleepy."

"You're already sleepy." Jenova said, "Besides, you won't be doing much anyway."

"But there're monsters in the mountains." she said.

"But your sick, we'll fight them. You just stick to the sidelines." Zack said. He sat down and passed out the bars, "Come on eat up. We're resting for twenty minutes."

Jenova opened hers up and tasted it, "Gross, it tastes like… not good stuff." she said. She broke a piece off and tried to feed it to Benny, "Benny won't even eat it." she said.

"Well it's not for him, you eat it. I'm sure you could use some protein and…" he read over the ingredients, "Peanuts, Fiber, granola, and oats."

"Protein is gross." she muttered, "How do you expect me to eat this?"

"We had to eat worse stuff when our missions lasted more then a day." he ate his without a problem, "This is heaven compared to that slop."

"Yeah whatever." Jenova mumbled. She took another bite and swallowed it without chewing. Minerva leaned back against her bags and started to sleep. She tried to stay awake, but she was exhausted. She was sure they'd wake her up when it was time to go. Well, apparently she was wrong, because when she woke up she was inside of a tent. She was wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag with Jenova's chocobo in her face. She could hear swords clashing outside and she tried to get up.

The sleeping bag was inescapable. She sighed and closed her eyes, they had obviously set up camp and one of them would come in eventually. But she was hungry, really hungry, and hot. She hadn't eaten her protein bar and she was stuffed inside off a hot sleeping bag. She realized she'd have to wait if she wanted to get out. Wiggling around would just make her hot, so she'd tough it out.

The sounds from outside ended and she heard them talking. She wanted to move closer and listen in, but she couldn't. She saw shadows walk over to the tent and sit down, she figured they'd lit a fire. Zack's shadow came closer to the tent. It seemed to get bigger until the entire tent was covered in darkness. It opened and Zack came in, "Oh you're awake. Jenova's keeping watch." he said. He walked over to the bags and pulled out another sleeping bag.

"Can you let me out of here?" Minerva asked.

"Huh? Oh right, you felling better?" he asked, he started to unzip the sleeping bag, "You passed out."

"No… I just wanted to take a small nap. I figured you guys would wake me." she said, her stomach growled and she got up, "Anything to eat?"

"We heated up that Mountain stew. There's still a lot left." he said. Minerva nodded and crawled out of the tent. Jenova was sitting by the fire, eyes scanning the mountains around her. She had her sword in her hand and was ready for another fight.

"Hey…" Minerva moved to sit next to her. Jenova turned to her and then back to the mountain.

"Hi." she said, "Dinner's right there." she pointed her sword at the pot. Minerva didn't move to get any.

"Are you tired?" she asked, "I'm feeling a lot better you know, I can keep watch."

"No I'm fine." Jenova said, "Just eat."

Minerva nodded and moved to get some stew, "Are you upset with me?" she asked quietly.

Jenova turned to her one eyebrow raised before she shook her head, "No, it's just… I've been thinking. About what's going to happen when we defeat the weapons… will they come back?" she asked.

"They shouldn't why?"

"Sapphire weapon died in Junon, Diamond weapon was killed by Sister Ray, Ruby weapon was killed by Cloud's gang, along with Ultimate and Emerald weapon. They came back, and if they were able to come back then, will they come back now?" she asked.

Minerva shook her head, "No, I was the one who created them, I put them back to sleep after Meteor… they wake up when there's a threat to the planet. But Bri's soul convinced them that you were a threat…If we kill them, I won't be around to bring them back to life"

"Oh…" she sounded a little disappointed.

"But that's not all that's on your mind is it?" she asked.

Jenova sighed and looked away, "No, it's not." she said quietly, "Are… we still… friends?" she asked.

"Friends?" Minerva repeated, she sounded shocked, although she didn't mean to, "Why would you ask that?"

"You're right, stupid question…" she muttered, "Our friendship died a long time ago."

Minerva dropped her bowl, "What?" she asked, "Do you really believe that?"

Jenova looked down at the bowl, then back at Minerva, "Well, no… but…

"But what?" she snapped, "I know I sent you to that planet, and I'm sorry… I never stopped considering you a friend. I figured you did though."

"I did, I hated you so much for what you did. I felt that if you had just warned me… I wouldn't have had to go through any of what I did." Jenova squeezed her sword and bit her lip, "I wanted revenge, not just on you. On all the Cetra, I went back to our planet and I destroyed the planet, then I used it to find this one, so I could destroy it as well. I planned on going to find any Cetra there was and killing them. They all deserved to die."

"Everyone? B-because of what a few kids did to you? My mom, my dad… the entire planet…" Minerva stood up, "You killed them all?"

Jenova nodded, "Yeah, I did." she whispered.

Minerva shook her head and curled her hands into fists, "You killed my parents, and expect me to still be your friend? No, I hate you…" she turned back towards the tent.

"You are so stupid, you're mom died before you even left for this planet! And you never had a dad." Jenova said, "I killed my parents, but no one else. I had a lot of control then, I didn't completely lose it until I made it here."

Minerva turned back to her and sighed, now she remembered, her mom had died, of some unknown disease. "But your parents…they didn't…"

"Yes they did! Don't try to deny it, my dad hated me, simply because I wasn't his, my mom… she hated me even more… I ruined their family." she said, "It wasn't my fault, but they acted like it was."

"But that's no reason to kill them…" Minerva said.

"Minerva, you knew how they were. And you knew how I was, it only escalated year after year. In my position… anyone would have done it."

Minerva bit her lip, "I guess." she muttered, she sat back down and refilled her bowl, "We should go to Costa Del Sol, they have airships that can take us to Midgar. Then we'll talk to Cloud." she said, in attempt to change the subject.

"They'll want to kill me." Jenova said.

"Yeah, but Zack will stop them, it'll give us a chance to tell what's happening." Minerva said.

"Let's hope so." Jenova set her sword down and rested her chin in her hands, "If they don't want to help out, what do we do then?"

"I haven't planned for that, they will help, they're the only ones who can." Minerva said, "Now go to bed, I'll keep watch."

"No way, I revealed a lot about my past, I'll have nightmares if I go to sleep." she said.

"Well I'm wide awake, so I guess we'll keep watch together." Minerva said.

Jenova nodded and returned her eyes to their surroundings, "I think I'm going to climb up a little further, just to see how much more we have to go." she said.

"No, there's monsters." Minerva said.

"You know we walked right through Nibelheim? Zack was felling uncomfortable, there was a mansion there, but he didn't want to stay in it. Zack also said that monsters drop materia, I want some." she said, she stood up and stretched her limbs, "Besides, I'm not going too far."

"You'll get hurt." Minerva said

"Not too bad, besides we have potions." She held up her sword, "I need to get some training done anyway." she started to climb the mountain and Minerva pulled her down.

"No way, you can't go anywhere without us." she said

"What? Come on…" Jenova muttered, "I'll only go a few feet up there, just to sit and think for a minute."

Minerva sighed and let go, "Be careful." she said. Jenova rolled her eyes and climbed up further into the mountain. She needed to get back to Nibelheim, something was calling her to that town, maybe it was the reactor. She was kept there for a while, maybe some of her cells were calling out to her. But there was no way she could get there with Minerva watching her like she was.

If she could get to the cells, she could get her revenge before her emotions changed her mind. Maybe having more cells would give her back her powers.

Jenova smiled and her eyes flashed dangerously. It was a good plan, she could run and get to town. The cells were probably in the mansion, she'd get in and get out. Her smile disappeared, would these cells turn her back into the old Jenova? And did she really want that? She was actually starting to like her human form, besides the emotions of course.

She sighed, she didn't even know if there were cells down there. She just needed to get away from Minerva and Zack, that's all. Those two were beginning to act like parents, the parents she never had. And honestly, she didn't want them that much. Without them, she'd be dead. She couldn't sense thing like Minerva could, nor could she fight the weapons, and convincing Cloud to help her would not have even crossed her mind. She hated to admit it but, she needed them.

She stood up and looked around, they were pretty high up the mountain, she could a few green lights in the distance. She looked at them for a few minutes before jumping back down to their camp. She grabbed Minerva's shoulder's and shook her, "Minerva look up here! I found Mako!" she said, "Lots of it."

"Mako?" Minerva blinked.

"Lots of it shooting out from the ground. Come see it." she said, "And Zack too, it looks cool."

"We'd be passing it tomorrow, we'll see it then

"Morning? No way! It'll be too bright and I won't see it as well."

"It's bright green, you'll see it. Besides, there are more monsters near the mako at night." Minerva said, "Get to bed."

"Come on… please?" Jenova asked.

"No, go to bed." Minerva ordered, she took Jenova's sword and pushed her towards the tent, "We have a lot of walking to do tomorrow."

"Great." Jenova rolled her eyes and went into the tent, Zack was lying comfortably on top of his sleeping bag. Jenova found her own and slipped inside of it, it was cold on the mountain and she had no idea how Zack could be sleeveless in this kind of weather. She closed her eyes but didn't sleep, she had too much going through her mind to sleep, but she wasn't thinking either. She was lying there doing nothing. Eventually she'd fall asleep, but when she did, she wanted her mind clear so she wouldn't see any memories.

X. x. X. x. X.

"I told you it wouldn't be as cool in the morning." Jenova said, she whacked a bomb with her sword, "Stupid fire balls." It shot some fire at her and she moved away. They'd been fighting all day, yet Jenova wasn't tired. She was pumped up and wanted more.

"These things never end!" Zack said he cut down a few monsters and wiped the sweat from his brow, "Hey Jenova, you know these things are called Dorky faces?"

"And who named it?"

"ShinRa people I think." Zack said, "I used to hate them, they'd blow their breathe on you and then you wouldn't be able to use magic."

"I can't imagine that smelled good." Minerva said. The bomb floating in front of her started to get bigger, "what's it doing?" she asked. Zack pulled her back.

"It's going to self destruct." he said, "Just stay away from it, we don't need you passing out again." Jenova stood near them, she looked around checking the area for anymore monsters. The bomb exploded and Minerva sighed.

"That's the last of them right?" she asked, "I've never fought so much in my life."

"Zack looked through the remains of the monsters, "These guys didn't have much in them." he said.

"Maybe they were eating food. Real food." Jenova said. She pushed the corpses around with her sword and saw a bright orb, "Yes! Materia!" she picked the orb up, "Look Zack, I found some what kind is it?"

Zack took it and shrugged, "Fire? I can't tell like I used to." he said.

"Whatever, how do I use it?" she asked.

"Put it into your weapon, you'll be able to use it then." Zack took her sword and pressed the materia into the hilt, "Give it a try. Like this." he healed the sword up and shot some flames into the air, "It isn't leveled up." he said in disappointment.

"Who cares?" Jenova took the sword and tried herself. A ball of fire flew out and she smiled, "Yes! There has to be more around here somewhere." she said.

Zack smiled and started searching the area, "I'm not seeing any." he said.

"Sucks for you guys, this ones mine." she said. She took it out of the sword and tossed it up before catching it. "Remember those remnants? They could put materia into their arms." she said, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could too?"

"No, it'd be weird." Zack said. Jenova rolled her eyes and pressed the materia into her arm. "Gross." he muttered.

Jenova shot some fire from her arm, "Ha! This is so cool!" she pulled it out and tossed it to Minerva, "You try."

Minerva caught the orb and pressed it onto her arm, "Nope, it's just you." she said.

Jenova pressed it back into her arm and shrugged, "Oh well."

"don't use it to much, you'll run out of MP." Zack said.

"What? Who cares?"

"You should, you won't be able to use it without that stuff." Minerva said, "I only brought a little bit of ether."

"Oh… well let's go before the monsters come back." Jenova said, she pulled her bags onto her back, "I think Benny's been eating all our food, this bag gets lighter every time I pick it up."

"No, you just get stronger, that bag is still full." Zack said, he picked up his own and led them through the mountain.

"Yeah, I bet I'm level 30 now." Jenova said.

"Nope, level 3." Minerva said.

"What! What does it take to get to level 4? I've been fighting all day long, how can I only be level 3?" she asked.

"Well, seeing as this is real life in not a game, you don't have a level." Zack said.

"But if this was a game, I'd be level 3 right?" Jenova asked.

"I guess." Zack shrugged, "So, North Corel was it?" he asked Minerva.

"Yeah, then Costa Del Sol." Minerva said, "We should be able to get to Midgar from there. We just need a little more gil."

"Well, these monsters aren't dropping much, how do we get more without them?" Jenova asked.

"Odd jobs? I think we could do stuff like cleaning or something in North Corel."

"Or rob a bank! That sounds fun."

"And illegal."

"Whatever." Jenova rolled his eyes and looked to Minerva, "I forgot to tell you, a few days ago when I was fighting monsters, before I passed out there was this black smoke. It killed all the monsters. I think I'm magic." she said.

"I don't think that's what it was, maybe a limit break." Zack said.

"A what?"

"Limit break." he repeated, "It happens sometimes when your about to lose a fight, or sometimes you can make it happen yourself"

"Oh, okay." Jenova said, "What's yours?"

"I have a lot actually." Zack said, "You'll see them one day."

They climbed further up the mountain and reached the top. "Okay, halfway down we should stop and set up camp." Minerva said, "It's already getting dark."

"How much further to North Corel?" Jenova asked, "All I see from here is more mountains."

"Another 2 days should get us there." Minerva said.

"Two days? We'll be walking forever!" she said, "We should get a car."

"A car can't drive us through mountains." Zack said, "I believe chocobos can though."

"Right," Jenova pulled Benny from her pocket, "Come on Benny! Lead the way." The chocobo flew a few feet away before landing on the ground. "Hey I didn't say take a break! We need to go!"

"Chocobos aren't big flyers, they can't get too far, and when they're older they can't fly at all." Minerva said.

"Oh how useful." Jenova muttered. She walked over and scooped up the chocobo, "I think he's hungry." she said.

"I told you it was going to starve, we have no food for it." Minerva said.

"Well, I'll feed it some of my ramen before I cook it next time."

"Chocobo eat plants." Zack said, "I don't think they eat noodles."

"Well this one does." Jenova slipped Benny into her pocket again. They walked for a few more minutes when they heard something. Zack immediately grabbed his sword and looked around.

"These aren't monsters…" Minerva said, "They're people."

"Oh, are they nice people?" Jenova whispered.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Well you can sense everything else, I just figured you could feel other peoples bad mojo." Jenova mumbled.

"How close are they?" Zack asked. He set down his bags and looked around.

"Right up there." Minerva pointed.

"Okay, you guys stay here." He walked ahead and disappeared.

"What if they're bandits?" Jenova asked, "He'd need our help."

"He doesn't." Minerva said.

"But if there's more then one of them? I mean, these aren't monsters, these are people with a lot more brain power." Jenova said. She set her bags down, "We'll just watch from behind a rock or something, if he needs help, we'll help him."

"Yeah, we'll do that." They set their bags down and walked towards Zack, they saw him talking with a few people and…chocobos. It looked like he was negotiating with them. They had a large herd of them. "Mountain chocobo, they can climb mountains." Minerva said.

"Cool, maybe we can buy one." Jenova said.

"Let's go." Minerva pulled Jenova away, "If he sees us he'll think we don't trust him or something." Jenova let Minerva pull her back to their bags.

"Wouldn't it be cool if we got to ride a chocobo? We'd get to North Corel so fast!" she said, "And Benny could play with them."

"We don't have money for them." Minerva said. Jenova crossed her arms and sat down.

"Well if we aren't getting one, why is he taking so long?" Jenova asked. Minerva sat down and shrugged.

"We'll see when he gets back." she said. It wasn't long before Zack came back with the heard of chocobo and the people behind him.

"They've been having trouble getting through the mountain, you know because of monsters." he said, "They said that they have a truck at the bottom and they'll give us a ride to North Corel if we help them out."

"Alright, that works." Minerva said, "So we set up camp here?" Zack nodded and started to get out the tent.

"I'll keep watch first." he said, "Jenova you feed the chocobo."

"What? Why me?" she asked.

"Because you need to learn chocobo care, Argus here will help you out." Zack pointed to one of the two people. Jenova sighed and went off with him to the chocobo. Zack continued to set up the tent and Minerva started a fire.

"It should only take 7 hours to get down the mountain tomorrow, then 9 more in our truck, there is a path on Mt Corel we can drive through to get to North Corel." the other man said, his name was Anthony.

"So how's North Corel doing with rebuilding?" Minerva asked, last time she checked, the town was a mess, but that was years ago.

"Very well, it's a very nice place now." Anthony said, "My dad owns the chocobo ranch there, he let's me take the chocobos on walks sometimes. We've taken a little more time then usual this time though."

"Because of monsters?" Minerva asked.

"There seems to be more then usual around here, we almost lost a chocobo." Anthony shook his head, "But Zack said he'd help out with that."

"Get to bed Minerva," Zack said, "You too Jenova." Jenova walked over with Argus and crawled into the tent, "We're getting up early." Zack said. Minerva nodded and went into the tent. Argus and Anthony stayed out, they unrolled their own sleeping bags and slept easily. It was still early, but they weren't making any stops the next day.

X. x. X. x. X.

They made it down the mountain easily, a lot quicker then they had expected actually. But the ride to North Corel was less then favorable. The truck was meant to seat 3 people, but they'd managed to squeeze all five of them in, although it was rather squishy. In the end Zack ended up inside of the chocobo cart.

"So where you headed after this?" Argus asked.

"Costa Del Sol." Minerva said, "Then to Edge."

"I thought you said Midgar?" Jenova said

"It's the same place pretty much." Minerva said

"So why say Edge instead of Midgar?" Jenova asked

"Because everyone knows it as Edge now." Minerva said.

"That's a long way to go for a couple of kids." Anthony said, cutting into their conversation.

"Zack's an adult." Jenova said.

"Still a long journey, and on foot?" Antony whistled, "You'll be walking forever."

Jenova ignored him and turned to Argus, who seemed to be looking at her. "I bet you guys need a place to stay when you get there." he said.

"Nope.

"Actually we do, we need to restock and get some rest before heading out again." Minerva said.

"You could stay with us." Argus said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, we have no money." Jenova whispered to Minerva.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, our supplies should last us until Costa Del Sol." Minerva said thoughtfully.

"But you need rest right?" Argus asked

"Well I guess but…" Minerva trailed off, she had no idea why not. They could afford to stay, but they'd be wasting time, she wanted to get to Midgar as soon as possible, and it would still be daylight when they got to North Corel. "There's still a lot of daylight left, we need to get to Midgar as soon as possible."

"I guess, but it won't help if you're tired when you leave." Argus said.

"Stop it Argus, they need to go." Anthony snapped.

"You'd think they'd be grateful, we're giving them a ride." he mumbled.

"Hey now, stop that. They helped get all the chocobos down the mountain alive," Anthony said, "We owe them." Anthony stopped the car, "Time to refill, stretch your legs." he got out of the car and moved to let Zack out.

Jenova got out of the car and looked around, "This place is a dump." she muttered. She looked around and saw Argus standing a few feet away.

"So why don't you want to stay?" Minerva asked.

"That guys a creep! He was feeling me up the whole car ride. Not to mention he keeps staring at me." she said.

"I'm sure he has a good reason for it." Minerva said.

"What reason could he possibly have?" Jenova asked.

"He could… no… um, how about we switch spots?" Minerva suggested.

"I don't think it's a good idea to let my friend go through that." Jenova mumbled, "But if you really want to I won't stop you."

Zack walked up to them and sighed, "Okay one of you get the chocobo cart next." he said.

"I'll take it." Jenova said, she got into the cart and shut the door behind her.

"She has no idea what she's getting into." Zack muttered, "Those chocobos get pretty wild when the cars move." he brushed a few feathers from his shirt, "But Benny is enjoying it in there."

"Well I guess she won't mind, she really didn't want to sit up here anymore." Minerva said.

"Argus?" Zack guessed.

"How'd you know?" Minerva asked.

"Well, Anthony said he was a pervert." he scratched his head, "I kind of forgot." He shrugged and opened the door for Minerva, "what're we doing when we get to town?" he asked.

"We'll be leaving as soon as we can, it's still early." she said.

"Can you feel any weapons?" Zack asked.

Minerva nodded, "They've mostly stayed in the same place, probably to attack if we get close to them But Ruby weapon is still following us." she said.

"Can you tell me about the weapons? I mean like, how many are there?" he asked, "Because it seems like every time one is near, it's a different one."

"There are 5. Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Diamond, and Ultimate weapon. They were created by the planet to protect it when needed, before Meteor was summoned, they were all Frozen in the northern Crater. They all died years ago." she said.

"died?"

"Yeah, Ruby weapon was killed by Cloud and his group, along with Ultimate and Emerald weapon. Sapphire weapon was killed in Junon by ShinRa people. Diamond weapon died when Sister Ray was fired, I think because it was weakened by Cloud's group first. We shouldn't have a problem with Emerald and Sapphire weapon, they're aquatic, although I think Sapphire weapon can walk on land, Ruby weapon, well you saw that one, Ultimate weapon is a dragon, it can fly. Diamond weapon is a little more humanoid then the rest, but it's still huge. Good thing about that one is that it's really slow compared to the rest. Emerald is by far the strongest, Ultimate comes second, then Ruby, then Sapphire and Diamond," Minerva sighed, "I recreated them a little bit after the remnants died, that's around the time when Jenova took her human body. The previous owner's soul didn't go into the life stream like expected, it went into Ruby weapon. Ruby weapon then awoke from it's slumber and the other ones followed suit. It convinced them to hunt down Jenova, because she wanted her own body back. And the other's listened, because I wasn't there to tell them Jenova wasn't as much of a threat as they've been told."

"So their confused?" Zack asked.

"Pretty much." Minerva said.

"Hmm," Zack rubbed his chin in thought, "If we can return you to a goddess, could you stop them?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I can't do that."

"Right, what about Holy? You can summon it right?" he asked.

"Yes," she said and Zack smiled, "But…" his smile disappeared.

"Aww, but what?" he asked.

"The materia for that is long gone, it fell somewhere I think and I don't know where." Minerva said, "We have to fight them."

Zack groaned and leaned back into the seat. Argus and Anthony got in and Zack smirked at Argus. "Why so glum?" he asked.

"Where's Jenova?" he asked.

"She wanted to ride with the chocobos." Zack said.

Argus growled and looked out the window. Anthony smirked as well, "Stop moping Argus!" he said.

"I'm not moping!" Argus snapped, "I just hope she's not upset with me."

"Why would she be?" Minerva asked curiously.

"I didn't pay enough attention to her during the journey, she might be jealous." Argus said, "Or maybe I went too quick and killed any chance I ever had with her."

Anthony shook his head, "I don't think so. You didn't have much of a chance with her to begin with." he said.

"Oh how would you know? You haven't met a girl in 7 years!" Argus snapped.

"That's because I'm married." Anthony said. Argus growled and turned away. "Don't worry it's just another few hours of this." Minerva, Zack, and Anthony all sighed simultaneously. This would be the longest "few" hours ever.

0.o.0.o.0.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy

Chapter 8

They made it to Edge a few days later. They were tired and hungry, but they still had something to do. "How far until we get to Cloud's house?" Jenova asked tiredly.

"I don't know." Minerva mumbled. They shuffled along until Zack decided to take a break.

"What now?" he asked.

"Well, we made it. Just barely, but we made it." Minerva said, "I think we should get a hotel room or something. We need to think of a way to get Cloud on our side."

"And find your girlfriend." Jenova added.

"Uh huh and find Aerith, if she's around." Minerva said. They sat and rested for a minute before Zack stood up. "Where are you going?" Minerva asked.

"I'll find a hotel for us. Then I'll come back

"Yeah, that works, 'cuz I'm not moving anytime soon." Jenova said. Zack walked away and Minerva stared after him. He seemed untouched compared to them. They'd fought several monsters on the way here, they'd all gotten hurt one way or another, yet he walked as if there was nothing wrong. "I hurt." Jenova mumbled.

"Yeah I know." Minerva agreed. She looked over her own body at the several shallow cuts that riddled her arms. She was covered in bruises and felt as if her ribs were broken. She was sure she'd cracked one of them, but she would be fine. Jenova was in a similar state, you couldn't see any cuts on her arms but they were there. Just hidden by her sweater.

"Do we have to talk to him today?" Jenova asked, "Can we just sleep?"

"No, that'll come later. It's important that we talk to Cloud or one of his allies soon." Minerva said, "The sooner we get rid of the weapons, the sooner we can get on with our lives."

"Our lives? Aren't you gonna go back to being all high and mighty? And Zack's going back to the life stream." Jenova said, "And me? I don't know."

"I told you I probably won't be able to turn back." Minerva said, "I figured I'd enjoy my life as a teenager. Go to high school, go to college."

"And die." Jenova said.

"I'm okay with that, I've lived for thousands of years. I'm ready to die." Minerva said.

"You're depressing." Jenova mumbled, "I mean it's not like you'll be dying anytime soon. I mean unless Ruby weapon kills you." They sat in silence and waited, "I'm sleepy." Jenova said.

Minerva had to agree, they hadn't slept in forever but she wanted to let someone know about the problem before she even thought about resting. "We'll sleep soon, just uh get up. Don't fall asleep." she said. Jenova glared over at her, but listened anyway. She stood up and walked around.

"This isn't working Minerva. I'm just getting sleepier." She collapsed back onto the ground, "When did we run out of potions?" she took off her bag and opened it up. Her chocobo flew out and landed on the ground near her. "You stupid bird. How long have you been in there?" she asked.

"Stop talking to the bird." Minerva said, "It makes you look crazy." Jenova dug through the bag for something to eat.

"There's nothing but those disgusting protein bars left. We're going to die before Zack even get's back." Jenova said. She pushed the bag away from herself and sighed, "We should've just gone with him. We'd be sleeping sooner."

"I think we shouldn't tell Cloud you're Jenova yet." Minerva said, "But if Aerith is here, she's probably with them and she'd know." She stared down at the ground blankly, "I think they'll help us. They would want to save the other people. But I'm worried about what they'll do to you after this problem is solved."

"Oh right, I'm an enemy." Jenova said. They waited another few minutes before Zack finally came back.

"I found a place to stay, it isn't too far from here." he said, "Are we going to see the tomorrow or today?"

"Tomorrow!" Jenova said.

"Today." Minerva decided. She stood up and almost fell back down, "Or tomorrow, I don't think I can handle much walking." Zack helped her to her feet and looked over to Jenova. They were both in bad shape.

"I can talk to them, I think it would work better if I told them everything and then you guys came." Zack said. They started walking toward the hotel. "Can you sense Aerith?" he asked.

"I can't sense anything right now." Minerva said, "I'll be able to in a few hours though." Zack nodded and led them into the hotel. Their room was on the first floor, it was the same as their room at the Gold Saucer really. The only thing different was the design. As soon as they entered, they collapsed onto the bed, "I think we should wash our clothes." Minerva said, "I don't want to see those people with monster guts caked into my clothes."

"Yeah and while you're at it, take a bath, you smell." Jenova mumbled. Zack rolled his eyes and went into the bathroom; he'd wash his clothes and sleep on the other bed while they dried. He didn't mind sleeping naked, he felt freer actually. But he didn't plan on sleeping to long; he was going to find Aerith. He suspected she'd be at the church, she was usually there. He'd been down here for a week and a few days so she might've realized what was happening. Maybe she even told Cloud and the others.

He stripped out of his clothes and turned the water on. He placed his shirt under it and watched the blood mix with the water. He sighed and started washing.

X. x. X. x. X.

Aerith made her way through the town to Tifa's bar. She had no idea why it had taken her so long to realize what was happening to the world. Maybe it was because she'd been so caught up in wondering why she couldn't return to the life stream. Whatever the cause, it didn't matter. She needed to let Cloud know about the weapons and Jenova.

She walked by a hotel and her heart fluttered. A familiar presence was near, along with Zack. They were in the hotel. She stood for a minute before going into the hotel. She didn't bother asking anyone at the desk for help. She just walked by to the rooms. As she passed each room, she felt the presence grow stronger. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she knew this person.

She found the door and knocked. No sounds came from inside but she knew someone would come eventually. Just as she thought it would, the door opened up. Revealing Zack in a towel. "Aerith! Perfect, come in." he moved away and she entered.

"I didn't know you were here too." she said.

"Yeah, I was in Gongaga. These two found me." He gestured to the sleeping teens on the bed.

"Is that… Jenova?" Aerith asked.

"Uh, yeah it is." Zack said, "But let me explain something first."

"Explain what? Our enemy is here. We can get rid of her now and the weapons will stop their rampaging." she said.

"She's not our enemy… she's just a teenager with some Jenova cells in her. She has Jenova's memories and a little of her power but she's an entirely different person." Zack said.

"How do we know?"

"Well we don't. But I traveled with them both for a while and she seems like any other teenager." he said. Aerith walked over and glanced down at the two girls.

"Who's she?" She pointed at Minerva, "she's so familiar."

"Minerva, you know the goddess?" Zack said. Aerith nodded and sat down on the other bed.

"I guess I can wait until they wake up to talk to Tifa." she said, "but until then…" a smile creeped onto her face, "Mind telling me why you're naked?"

"Um I was just in the bathroom." he smile grew and Zack shook his head, "Not doing anything like that

"Oh, I understand. You were about to get in the shower?" Aerith said

"No… well yeah. But I was washing clothes first." he said.

"Go ahead, I'll be waiting here." she said. Zack nodded and went back into the bathroom. Aerith stared over at Jenova again, she wasn't exactly sure if she can trust yet. But if Zack did, she would too, at least until she was proven wrong.

X. x. X. x. X.

Sorry this took so long. I was busy, I figured before I could just hop back in I needed to upload a shorter chapter. Anyway I want to thank all those who reviewed. I really appreciate it.

Another thing, I know there are 7 weapons. The other ones will appear eventually, but as of now they are still dead. Next chapter they will officially talk to Cloud. So review and tell me what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or anything related

Chapter 9

Jenova woke up and rubbed her eyes. She felt a little better, but was still in pain. She sat up and blinked, trying to remember exactly where she was. Oh yeah, the hotel room. They had to meet Cloud and tell them about what she caused. She sighed and stood up, heading to the bathroom to wash some of the blood off of herself.

She entered the bathroom and saw her outfit hanging up, she was shocked to say the least. When she'd gone to bed she was wearing her clothes and now she was… Jenova looked down at herself. She was wearing a bikini. She saw Minerva's clothes hanging next to hers, they looked pretty dry so maybe she could take a shower and change. She peeked out of the bathroom and saw Zack was gone.

Jenova closed the door and started the shower. In a few minutes the bathroom was filled with steam and Jenova was enjoying her first shower since The Gold Saucer. Of course her shower time was cut short when Minerva entered the bathroom. "Oh, hey I didn't;t know you were in here." she muttered.

"Um yeah… now go away." Jenova said.

"But I have to pee." Minerva said sleepily, "I won't look at you."

"You've been looking at me this whole time." Jenova said. Although she was hidden behind a shower curtain she could just tell Minerva was staring at her.

"No I'm not…" Minerva sat down on the toilet and started to pee, "I can't find Zack, I figured he'd be back by now."

"Who cares?" Jenova muttered, "I'd like to push back meeting Cloud as long as I can." The toilet flushed and the water turned cold, "Goddamit Minerva! Why'd you do that?" Jenova turned off the shower and glared at Minerva, "Why are you still in here?"

"Oh well I woke up naked and you were gone. So I got worried and thought someone touched us and took you or that you ran away. But now that I found you I want to know why I'm naked." Minerva said.

"I have no idea why you're naked." Jenova muttered. She reached for her clothes and pulled them into the shower, "But someone washed our clothes." She slipped them on and stepped out of the shower.

"Your hair is really straight when it's wet." Minerva said.

"What's wrong with you?" Jenova asked, she stared deep into Minerva's eyes and saw they were glossy, "Oh my god… you've been drinking? Virtuous Minerva has been drinking?" She broke out laughing, "How many did you have?"

"Just 2, I'm not even drunk." she said.

"Oh shut up, you totally are!" Jenova said, "Wait until Zack finds out." Jenova opened the door and stepped out, "Oh and you should shower." Jenova closed the door and sat down on the bed, where did Minerva even get alcohol? She couldn't have left the room, and from the looks of things there was none in here. She searched her bags for something to eat before collapsing back onto the bed. She felt a little better but she still wanted to sleep forever. She closed her eyes and the door opened.

"Jenova, you're awake." Zack said, "Minerva's in the shower?"

"Uh huh." Jenova mumbled.

"Well, as soon as she's out we'll go to Cloud's, I explained to Tifa your situation." Zack said, "She doesn't believe me, but you can change her mind right?"

"I guess." Jenova said, she lifted her head and saw Zack and Aerith, "Oh, I know you. Sephiroth impaled you on his sword."

Aerith flinched at the thought, "Yes, he did…" she said.

"Um, let's not bring that up Jenova." Zack said, "Let's talk about the problem here."

"Without Minerva?" Jenova said, "Who's going to keep me focused? Oh and guess what, she'd drunk!"

"Drunk? On what?" Zack said, "There's no beer here."

"There must be, she said she had two of them." Jenova said, "But I think those were her first ones ever so she's going to have one hell of a hangover."

"You have to be lying, I don't think Minerva is the type to drink. She's too… you know, serious for that kind of stuff." Zack said. The shower turned on and Zack sighed, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, have I ever lied to you?" Jenova said.

"Yes… wait…No, you haven't but we've only been together a few weeks." Zack said. Jenova rolled her eyes and let her head fall back onto the bed.

"Wake me up when it's time to go." she muttered. She squeezed her eyes shut but couldn't get to sleep. There was something in here keeping her awake. She reasoned it must have been Aerith.

"I don't believe she's completely changed. It's obvious that she has a lot of Jenova'ss influence in her." Aerith said quietly.

"Yeah, I know but… well she hasn't proved me wrong yet. The moment she does, we'll throw her to the WRO." Zack said.

"Yes, we should do that

"Wait, what's the WRO?" Jenova asked, lifting her head again.

"The World Regenesis Organization. They'll handle you." Zack said.

"How?" she asked

"I guess they'd put you in jail? I don't know, you'll have to face what you did eventually. You can't just get away with all that you've done." Zack said. Jenova gulped and looked down, all she'd done… all the old her had done. If they didn't kill her, how could they make her pay for all she'd done? Her body shook violently at the thought. She smashed her face into the bed and grabbed the sheets. She knew what was happening, she was flying into another frenzy. "Jenova? Are you okay?" Zack asked.

"What's happening?" Aerith asked.

"I don't know…" Zack said. They watched her and waited, she continued to shake. Zack walked over and lifted her head, her eyes were closed and she was sweating uncontrollably, "I think we scared her… she probably started thinking of her past…" he said, "I mean she did this before."

"Did what?"

"Well I can't explain it, I say something and all of a sudden she passes out and starts reliving a bunch of memories." Zack said, "I guess the thought of her being locked up triggered it."

"Maybe it was the punishment part…" Aerith said, "We could try to stop this, she needs to see Cloud." Aerith walked over and sat down on the bed. She pulled Jenova's head onto her lap and stared down at her.

"What are you going to do?" Zack asked.

"I think I can calm her down, that's it though." Aerith said. She brushed some hair off of her forehead, "Jenova? Are you alright?"

"No…" Jenova snapped, "It hurts…"

"Just calm down, clear your mind, it should go away." Aerith said. Jenova shook and eventually stopped moving, eyes snapping open. "Did it stop?" Aerith asked.

"No… it didn't I can still here it. I just can't see it." she said, "It still hurts too."

"It'll be fine, just stop thinking about it." Aerith said.

"Oh you're really helpful! Don't you think I've been trying?" Jenova snapped.

"Jenova," Zack warned, "She's trying to help." Jenova shot up and rolled off of her lap.

"I'll be fine…

"What set it off?" Zack asked.

"Nothing." Jenova muttered. The shower turned off and a little later Minerva came out.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Jenova almost had one of those crazy memory things." Zack said, "But Aerith sort of calmed her down."

"Yeah, sort of." Jenova mumbled, "I'm fine now, let's go." She sat up and wiped her forehead, "How far is Cloud's house?"

"A couple miles." Zack said. Jenova groaned and stood up. Everyone else followed suit. They walked out of the room and Zack led the way to Tifa's bar. His mind was still on Jenova, he didn't know if she would be okay. He probably shouldn't have told her about the WRO, if she acted like this before even seeing them, how would she act when they took her? If they took her that it, Zack never talked it through with Minerva and he had a feeling she wouldn't let her friend get locked up.

"Did you explain it to them?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah, but they want to see for themselves. Then we'll split into groups and hunt down the remaining weapons." Zack said.

"And after that?" Minerva asked.

"Uh, I don't know. They'll definitely want to do something about Jenova." Zack mumbled.

"But maybe if she helped enough they'll let her go." Minerva said.

"I don't think they'll let someone who killed all the Cetra go." Aerith said with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

Minerva bit her lip and kept walking. What was she supposed to do? The last thing she wanted was for Jenova to go to jail, but there wasn't anything she could do. She was just a teenager. They could run away, but they'd eventually be found. "We'll have to work something out." she muttered.

They exited the hotel and started for the bar, Jenova's head pounded with voices. How far could she go like this? The voices were really starting to freak her out, she felt like she was going crazy. She figured this was how Sephiroth felt when she was poking around his mind. She kind of regretted it now that she knew what it felt like. _You're really going to Cloud?_

Jenova looked around for the source of the voice, hoping that it wasn't who she thought it was. _Don't ignore me, _Jenova, _I'm in your head._ Jenova closed her eyes and shook her head, she was not going to do this. Not now, she'd look to creepy. _So you are going? Do you really think they'll let you walk away after this? You are a calamity in human form, someone like you doesn't need to be walking around. They'll take you and you know very well what they'll do to you._

Yeah, she had an idea what would happen. Of course these were humans. They weren't like the people on her home planet, they weren't completely evil. They wouldn't do that kind of stuff to her, at least she hoped not._ Do you really believe that? You'll be tortured, they have to make you pay somehow. You killed thousands, an entire race is extinct because of you! _Yes, an entire race was extinct, but that wasn't technically her fault. She wasn't herself when that happened._ Your life will be over before it started, you might as well do what you came here to do. If you can destroy the weapons, you can take over the world like planned._

Jenova opened her eyes and tried to ignore Jenova, she wanted to prove she'd changed. Her goals were different, maybe it was her becoming human that changed them but all she wanted to do now was… be normal. She'd never gotten that, maybe both her and Minerva could settle down and be best friends again. After all this was over that is. "Are we almost there?" Jenova asked.

"Yes." Zack said, "It's right around the corner." Jenova was willing to bet that several vans were waiting to take her away. She didn't mind, they'd keep her safe from the weapons. But she was still a little scared, every step they took brought her closer to the bar. She looked at Minerva, she looked just as worried.

They stopped in front of the bar and Jenova and Minerva locked eyes. It was time. All the voices in Jenova's mind shut down as she stared at the building, heart pounding in fear. Zack stepped forward, opening the door.

0.o.0.o.0

Cliffhanger! Review!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Everything was still, very still. As if someone had stopped time. "I had to see it myself to believe it…" someone mumbled.

"There's really another one running around…" Jenova's eyes darted wildly, she had no idea there would be so many people waiting for her. Why did she feel like they were all watching her?

"Uh…" what was she supposed to say? What did they want to hear was a better question. The silence was killing her, when would someone speak up? And what would they say? Her head hurt just thinking about it.

"Alright, enough staring." Zack said finally, "We need to sort this out. When's Cloud getting here?"

"He should be here in a few hours; you guys aren't go anywhere right?" Tifa asked.

"Nope." Zack said, "Who else did you tell?" Zack looked around, he noticed Reno and Rude standing near the back wall and Reeve himself sitting down at a table.

"Just Vincent and Cloud." Tifa said, "Vincent will be here in a few minutes… why don't we sit down."

Jenova followed Tifa to a chair and sat down, she knew she was about to be interrogated, but she wasn't sure if she had an answer to any of their questions. They'd most likely ask why she was back. She really didn't know the answer to that one anymore; she'd have to do a lot of thinking before she got it.

Every one sat down at the table and watched her. They were acting as if she was going to hop up and attack them. "How'd you get here?" someone finally asked.

"With a boat." Jenova answered. Technically she'd told the truth, she did take a boat to get to Edge, but she was sure that's not what they wanted to hear.

"You know what we mean." Tifa snapped. Jenova sighed to herself.

"I took over someone's body on a beach and stuff." She murmured.

"that's it?" Tifa asked as if she was expecting more.

"Yeah, that's it." Jenova said.

"and what are your plans?" Tifa asked slowly. Jenova shrugged, she didn't know. Burt they were obviously weren't taking that for an answer. "You have to have something planned, there's no way you're just here to live."

"To live…" Jenova repeated. That sounded nice, but she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to settle down anywhere. "I really don't know what I'm going to do… I just wanted to stop Ruby weapon."

"You shouldn't have made it mad Yo!" Reno yelled from the back of the bar. Jenova shifted uncomfortably and waited for them to ask another question. She tried to select a few answers in her head so she'd be prepared.

"What was going through your head when you killed the Cetra?" Tifa asked.

"Nothing." She mumbled, which was the truth. Her mind was gone before she'd reached the planet, she'd been revenge crazy. "I wanted revenge…" she said slowly.

"Revenge?"

"Yeah, on her." Jenova nodded her head towards Minerva. Everyone in the bar put on their confused faces.

"Shesd lying." Reno decided.

"No I'm not." Jenova mumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest and noticed everyone tense up. "Oh calm down. I'm not here to kill you."

The door opened and someone walked in, Cloud, Jenova was sure of it. "What's going on?" he asked. Yes, it was Cloud. Jenova felt his eyes on her back and had to fight the urge to turn around and smirk, that wouldn't help her situation at all.

"This one wants your help." Reno said. Jenova watched Cloud come and stand in front of her.

"What do you want?" he asked. Jenova shrugged, how many times would they ask her that?

"We can do this later, let's not forget we have the weapons running wild out there." Zack said.

"Why don't we chain her to a rock? Then the weapons can find her and kill her." Someone said.

"That won't work." Minerva said, "The weapons have lost their leader and are confused. They aren't able to find a target without destroying everything else, we have to find them and destroy them on spot."

"Who are you?" Reno asked.

"This is Minerva. She's just a teen."

"So how does she know all this?" Cloud asked.

"It's not important; we just need to stop the weapons." Zack said. Jenova watched Cloud; he never took his eyes off of her. Maybe he wanted to be ready when she attacked, whatever the reason, she wished he'd stop. "You can lock her up for the night and we can talk this out." Zack said. Jenova's eyes snapped to Zack and he looked down at her as well.

"I guess we could tie her up and put her in the basement." Cloud mumbled, "But I don't think we have chains."

"She doesn't need to be chained up, she doesn't have any powers. We just need somewhere to put her so you guys can watch her." Zack said.

"Fine, put her in the basement. Reno can watch her." Cloud said.

"Wait what? I'm not watching her? What if she grows tentacles and does stuff to me?" he asked. Cloud just shrugged.

"Someone has to do it." He said.

"Fine, but that means I get free drinks." He said. Tifa rolled her eyes and walked away.

"The basement is this way." She said. Jenova stared for a moment before Zack tapped her shoulder.

"Follow her." He said. Jenova stood up and followed Tifa down into the basement. From what she could she, there were 3 beds and several crates. Tifa turned on the lights and swatted a few spider webs from her face.

Jenova stood in the center and looked around, the room was so dusty. "We'll come back for you later." Tifa walked out of the basement and Reno entered. The door closed behind him and the room dimmed a little.

"So…" Reno said after a while, "Are you really Jenova?" Jenova didn't answer; she just sat down on one of the beds and stared down at the floor. This wasn't supposed to happen, Cloud was supposed to agree to help her and then they'd get on with their lives.

She kicked swung her feet and sighed quietly. She wished she could teleport like Minerva, if she could, she wouldn't be in this mess. But all she could do was run fast, and that was no help in a basement. Unless of course she was playing tag with Reno, which she'd never do. "You don't look like Jenova." Reno said, breaking her from her thoughts.

"You're dumb." Jenova said.

"Dumb? What are you 5?" Reno twirled his EMR lazily, "You have the hair, but for all we know, you're just a remnant claiming to be Jenova."

"Maybe." Jenova mumbled. She was getting tired of Reno already, how many questions would he ask about who she was?

"How about we play a game? To pass the time… yo." He suggested. Jenova narrowed her eyes at him.

"What kind of game?" she asked. Reno simply smiled.

"So you want to play?" he asked.

"No, I just want to know what game." she said.

"I won't tell you until you agree to play." Reno said. Jenova looked away, he wasn't about to trick her like this.

"I don't need to know what game… I don't want to play." She said. Deep down inside, she knew she really wanted to know what the game was. She couldn't remember playing to many games on the way here or on her planet. "But if I did want to… would it be fun?"

"Fun? You're a prisoner; you don't get to have fun." Reno said, "But it'll keep your mind off escaping." Jenova just sighed and looked away again, there was nothing that would take her mind of escaping, and anything Reno did would only make her want to escape more. She shifted in the bed and tried to get comfortable, it would be a long time until anyone came down to get her.

0.o.0.o.0

"Zack, you said they wouldn't lock her up." Minerva said.

"They didn't they just put her in the basement with Reno." Zack said, "She'll fall asleep in no time and we can discuss everything."

"There's nothing to discuss. We just have to ask them to help fight the weapons and if they say no, we'll leave." Minerva said.

"They aren't just going to let Jenova walk out of here. After everything she's done to the planet, as Jenova and Sephiroth, she has a lot to atone for." Zack said.

Minerva sighed and sat down at the table, "Where did they go?" she asked.

"To talk amongst themselves, I think they're really listening in on Jenova and Reno. Maybe they want to see if she'll say anything evil." Zack said with a shrug, "I doubt she will though."

Minerva was sure that Jenova was down there cursing the world but she probably hadn't thought of destroying the planet. "She has a one track mind; she's probably focused on getting out of there." Minerva said.

"Well that should be easy, considering she has the fire material." Zack said, "She could set the building on fire and escape. But then again… she'd probably die, there's no way out of that basement." Minerva shuddered at the thought of Jenova burning to death. "But then this entire situation would be over. The weapons would calm down right?"

"Not until they find her, and if they don't they'll keep rampaging." Minerva said.

"But if you were a goddess again… you could stop them?" Zack asked. Minerva nodded, "Then why don't we do that? You and Aerith can do it somehow."

"Yeah, I can try… but if I go back… What will happen to Jenova?" Minerva asked, "They'll lock her away because both you and I will be in the lifestream."

"But maybe that's how things have to be? You can't honestly tell me that you'd let the entire planet suffer for one person." Zack said. Minerva shrugged and looked down at the table, she knew what the right thing to do was, but she just couldn't bring herself to agree with Zack.

"Well… we can try… to make me a goddess again." She decided.

0.o.0.o.0.

Finally I upload! I'll be getting my computer fixed so I'll be able to upload more soon. Sorry for any mistakes, I haven't figured out how to send to my beta yet. If anybody knows, please tell me.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"_Jenova! I found a snail!" Minerva screamed, "Look at it!" Jenova brushed a few silver strands of hair from her face and turned to her friend._

"_What's so great about a snail?" she murmured. But of course, Minerva heard her loud and clear._

"_Jenova, you need to learn to appreciate nature, it won't be here forever." she said._

_Jenova shook her head, "Whatever, it's just a snail and I can never appreciate a snail." she said. Which was true, she didn't care mush for nature and snails had never done anything for her._

_Minerva sat down and stared at the snail, it moved slowly on the ground, leaving shiny paths of mucus behind. "Where do you think its going?" she asked hazily. Jenova shrugged, it was most likely going into the street to be crushed by a bike wheel or something. But Minerva never thought of that kind of stuff. "Do you think it has kids?"_

"_Snails don't have families…" Jenova said slowly. "Right?"_

"_Everybody has a family." Minerva said._

_Jenova sighed and closed her eyes, that snail was probably an outcast. She'd heard once that there was a parasite that crawled into snails eyes and eventually killed it. But before that, it ruined the snail's life._

_Minerva's screams ripped her from her thoughts, "Jenova! Someone killed it!" she screamed. Jenova's eyes followed the trail of slime to a boy who was scarping the remains of the snails off of his foot. "That's so unfair! It never made it home." she cried._

"_Minerva, it was a snail, not a person. It didn't have a family to go home to." Jenova tried._

"_Snails are people too!" Minerva shouted. She must not have realized how stupid she sounded, snails were clearly not people. "You're so heartless Jenova! I have no idea why we're friends!"_

And she woke up, why were they friends? She stared up at the ceiling, unsure when she'd actually fallen asleep. Questions plagued her mind, mostly about the future, but she couldn't bring herself to dwell on those thoughts. She looked to her side and saw Reno in the same spot he was before, she couldn't tell if he was sleeping. "Reno!" she hissed, "What time is it?"

Reno blinked and stared at her, uncomprehending for a few seconds, "Uh…late?" he muttered.

"I'm hungry." she said.

"Well what am I supposed to do about that?" Reno asked and Jenova shrugged. There wasn't much he could do; they'd locked him in the basement too.

"Knock on the door?" she suggested. Reno closed his eyes, and shrugged. "You can't just ignore me." she said. But he did, he sat unmoving, most likely asleep again. Jenova sat up completely and decided to give the basement a closer look, if Reno was asleep, that meant she could escape. She stood up just as the door opened and Tifa came in. She held a tray of food.

"Cloud wants to see you in a few minutes." she said. She placed the tray on a box at the base of the stairs, "We'll come get you then."

"Alright." Jenova said.

"Don't try anything…" Tifa added slowly.

Jenova narrowed her eyes, but nodded, "I won't." she said reluctantly. Tifa turned away without another word, exiting the basement slowly, perhaps hoping to get some sort of proof. She wanted proof that Jenova was still Jenova, proof that she was ready to destroy them all in the blink of an eye. But instead, all she got was, "Reno get up. Tifa brought you food."

Tifa exited the basement, shutting the door and locking it tight, before turning to Minerva, the mysterious teen who'd arrived with everyone else. She was certainly out of place there, she seemed too normal, and it was making her suspicious. If Jenova was an alien remnant, and Zack and Aerith were… ghosts, what was she? It seemed strange that she traveled so far with these people, that she knew so much about the problem, yet she was normal. "Minerva? Can we talk?" Tifa asked.

Minerva lifted her head from the table, rubbing the weariness from her face. "About Jenova?" she guessed.

"No, about you." She sat down across the table from Minerva, "Who are you?" she asked.

"Minerva."

"I know but… hm." she paused, how could she explain it? "You travel with a bunch of people who are… not exactly normal. But you seem normal."

"It's complicated." Minerva said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway." Tifa sighed and let it rest, she'd find out soon enough.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

They sat at a table quietly, everyone's eyes on Jenova. Her arrival had put them all on edge, they weren't sure if they could trust her or not. "Well… maybe we should start talking?" Minerva suggested.

Cloud cleared his throat; he had no idea what to say, "Why should we help you?" he asked, although he already knew why. He didn't have it in him to let the planet be destroyed by the weapons. "Well?"

"Uh, because if you don't everyone would die." Jenova suggested.

"Maybe if we kill you they'll stop." Someone suggested, Jenova didn't know who, her eyes were on Cloud.

"You can't do that." Minerva mumbled. Cloud turned his attention to her and raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?" he asked.

"We've been through this before haven't we?" Jenova interrupted, "Can we just get on with it?"

"We have to do something with you first." Cloud said, "Someone has to watch you."

"I can watch myself…" Jenova said.

"We don't trust you." Tifa said bluntly. Jenova rolled her eyes but kept quiet. "We're not helping you, but we'll help the planet."

"I think we should use her to draw them out, let them kill her." Cloud said, "Then the weapons would go back to rest right?"

"No… I don't think so." Minerva said quietly, she wasn't really sure. In her opinion, whatever happened next wouldn't matter, as long as Jenova lived.

"Alright, we'll do it. We'll discuss it later." Cloud decided, "Put her in the basement and someone watch her."

"I'll do it." Zack said. Cloud nodded and stood up, a few people followed as he left the room, "Let's go." Zack motioned towards the basement door and Jenova sighed.

"Have you seen my chocobo?" she asked suddenly, realizing Benny was gone.

"What? You lost it?" Minerva asked.

"I think he was around when I fell asleep… what I Reno took him?" Jenova stared Reno down, 'What did you do to Benny?" she questioned. Reno looked shocked for a second before smirking.

"The little black fur ball?" he asked, "I think I might've stepped on him." Jenova felt her face heat up with anger, and Zack put a hand on her shoulder.

"He's just trying to make you mad." he said, "I'm sure Benny's fine." Jenova let Zack lead her into the basement and shut the door behind them. "You can't get angry like that. If you attack Reno, they'll kill you in a second."

"I wasn't going to attack him," she muttered, "and he shouldn't joke about killing babies."

Zack chuckled, "It's not a baby, it's a chocobo."

"A baby chocobo." Jenova said, "You're supposed to like nature, it won't be here forever."

"Um, okay. That sounds so unlike you." Zack said, "Who told you that?"

"Minerva." Jenova answered. She moved carefully down the steps and sat back down on the bed. "So do I get to fight the weapons?"

"No, you heard them, you'll be used to draw them out, and then they'll kill the weapon and lock you away until the next one comes." Zack said, "And after that, we'll discuss what to do with you."

The basement had got extremely boring after only a few minutes. Zack had nothing to talk about but the times he'd had with Aerith, and she didn't want to hear about that. She cared more about what Minerva was doing upstairs with the others. Why didn't she come down with them? She must've felt out of place up there with them, she had too. Jenova sighed to herself and listened to Zack for a little bit longer before interrupting. "When are the weapons getting here? I want to fight."

"I wouldn't be so anxious about that, we don't know what will happen to you once they're defeated." Zack murmured, "Besides, you wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"But if I try to help people, maybe they'll trust me a little more." She said. In reality, she could care less if she had their trust, she wanted to get away from them and never bother them again. "Besides, they can't keep me from fighting, I have materia you know."

"You don't know how to use it ." Zack pointed out.

"Yes I do." Jenova snapped, "I shot a monster with it, isn't that enough?"

Zack shook his head, "When I was in SOLDIER, we had powerful material. I'm a little upset that I lost it all when I died." He said, "But what you've got there can't be used against the weapons."

"I'm sure you can find it all eventually, I mean all the material in the world couldn't have just… disappeared. Plus I wouldn't just use the materia I'd hit too." She said. Zack didn't answer, "So what do you think Minerva's…" her voice trailed off as she felt something moving. The ground was shaking, "What's happening?" she asked. The tremors rocked the basement, knocking down anything held on the walls.

"A weapon, I'm sure of it." Zack stood up and started up the stairs. Jenova jumped up and followed him, she felt a little excited. She could fight, or at least watch someone fight, a weapon. There was always the chance that Cloud and his team couldn't get the job done, that she'd be right where she started.

"Do you think they can defeat them?" Jenova asked, trying hard to hide the slight concern in her voice. Zack nodded.

"They should, I mean they did it before right?" he asked. Jenova shrugged, she hadn't been watching the monsters just Sephiroth, to make sure he got the job done. Her eyes flicked to her feet before they went back to Zack.

"Sephiroth was your friend?" she asked. Zack gave her a look, signaling that he wasn't ready to talk about him. "Right, now's not the time." she mumbled. Zack opened the door and looked out, no one was there. "What do you see?" Jenova asked, "Can you see outside?" Zack kept quiet and walked out into the open. The tremors still rocked the ground, but they were more noticeable. Jenova slowly followed and looked around; it was too empty for her liking.

"Come on, I think they might be outside." Zack said. He hurried to the door and walked out, "Cloud, what's going on?" Cloud turned to them briefly before looking back up.

"I don't know which one that is, but its fast." He pointed to the thing flying in the air, "I fought it before I think."

"Where are the others?" Zack asked.

"I told Aerith to take the kids to her church; I think they'll be safe there. Tifa and Reeve went to warn the towns people and everyone else is… I don't know." Cloud said he turned back to Jenova, "If that girl was right, then we need to get you away from the town."

"Huh? For what?" Jenova questioned.

"So we don't fight the battle in town, I think we can both fit on my motorcycle." he said.

"Or Jenova can carry you; I'll take your motorcycle." Zack suggested.

"Hey but I want to ride on a motorcycle." Jenova said, "I've never been on one before."

"Jenova, just go." Zack ordered.

"Fine, let's go." she waited for Cloud to come over, and after a moment of consideration, he did. She bent a little and let him climb on, he was surprisingly light. "I think you need to eat more." she said before taking off, "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Just get out of town, we'll be fine there!" Cloud shouted. Jenova ran them out of town and stopped. There was nothing but land for miles.

"Hmm, where is it?" she looked back towards the town, "What's taking so long?" Cloud was silent. Jenova turned to Cloud, he was watching her closely. "What?" she asked slowly.

"How can you come back and expect people to be happy to see you?" he asked, "After all you did, after all the lives you ruined… what makes you think you can come back?"

Jenova shrugged, "I have to admit, the reasons I came back aren't the best… but that was a long time ago." she said.

"And you expect us to believe that you've just changed?" Cloud questioned, anger rising in his voice.

"I don't expect anything really. I just wanted your help; it wasn't really my idea to come here for help. I wanted to do it on my own, but Minerva said if anyone could save the world it was you." Jenova said, "I think she has a crush on you or something."

Cloud examined her for a minute, "Zack said it was your fault Sephiroth changed." he said, "You made him crazy."

"Oh, uh, I guess I played a roll in that… but really he made himself crazy, I just told him what to do once he'd fully devoted himself to me." she explained.

"Well, why?" Cloud asked.

"I don't know." she snapped, "I don't know everything. I can't tell you why I did those things, I don't even know myself." The weapon roaring in the sky stole her attention. It circled them in the sky before landing a few feet away. Jenova backed away and looked at Cloud, "You didn't bring your sword?" she asked, her eyes widening a bit.

"I… well I was expecting to use my motorcycle to get us out here…" he muttered, "But Zack should be coming soon." The Weapon roared again and Jenova glanced at it nervously.

"And how long is that going to take?" she asked, "Did I take us too far out?"

"No, he'll be here in a few minutes." Cloud said firmly, or as firmly as he could in the situation. They continued to slowly back away from the weapon before an idea popped into Jenova's head.

"Maybe if I hit it with fire it'll die." she said, "Will that work?" she asked, she pulled the materia out of her arm. "Or you could do it; I'm not good with it according to Zack."

Cloud looked at her skeptically, "I can't use it without a weapon, but attacking it will only make it angrier, we don't want it mad if we don't have weapons." Cloud said. Jenova nodded and placed it back in her arm. She watched the monster towering over her with caution, what was it waiting for, why wasn't it attacking them. She didn't really care if it didn't attack her, but she couldn't help feeling if it was waiting for something.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" she asked. The weapon looked down at her, and suddenly, she was somewhere else. A dark place, much like the place she'd been in when she'd first taken her new body. She looked around for Cloud frantically, calling his name and getting no answer. Fear was swelling in her chest; she didn't want to be alone here. "Who's here?" she questioned.

Something suddenly rushed her, knocking her onto her back. Jenova saw someone in front of her and once her vision focused, she gasped. "Bri…"

"You think I'm just going to sit back and let you steal me away?" she said angrily. Jenova didn't answer she just moved away from the girl.

"I thought you were in Ruby weapon." she said.

"I'm in whoever is closer to you and once I destroy your soul, I'll take my body back." Bri said, "Then I'll leave the goddess to decide your fate." Jenova stood up.

"You can't do that." she said, "They'll defeat you before you can." She looked the girl over; she didn't look in any condition to fight. Jenova studied her, she didn't remember if Bri had been this skinny or not. "You couldn't defeat me anyway."

"I couldn't?" Bri asked.

"No, my essence is still stronger then you, you'd be better off taking another body and forgetting about this one." Jenova said. Bri smirked and ran forward. She ran right through her and stopped on the other side. Jenova fell over in pain. Her chest throbbed painfully and her throat closed up. She couldn't breath; she clutched her neck and gasped for breath. She quickly realized that the pain wasn't real; she stood up and turned to face Bri. "This isn't real, and neither are you." she said, "This is an illusion or something."

Bri said nothing as her image shook and disappeared. Jenova opened her eyes and found herself clinging to something. "Zack?" she questioned.

"What's up with you? Do you want to die?" he asked angrily. Jenova looked around and saw everyone fighting the weapon.

"What happened?" she asked. She let go of Zack and stood on her own. "I saw Bri."

"Who?"

"The girl I stole this body from, she doesn't want to kill me." Jenova said, "She just wants to destroy my soul… and leave the goddess to decide my fate."

Zack nodded and handed her a sword, "It was hard work convincing Cloud to let you fight, but you better not die." he said. Jenova took it and nodded. Zack started back towards the weapon and Jenova looked at it, she wasn't really sure if she wanted to fight it anymore.

"What are you doing?" she heard from behind her. Minerva stepped into view, "You can't fight that thing! You'll die."

"What do you mean, I've fought plenty of things." she said, but she knew that wasn't enough. "But I have to help somehow."

"You'll help by staying out of the way." Minerva said, "You'll only get in their way if you try to help." Jenova glared, "Don't give me that look, you know you will."

"You don't get it Minerva." she mumbled, "This is my fault, I have to help somehow." Minerva's expression softened a little.

"You can't, you wouldn't stand a chance." she said softly. Jenova lifted the sword in her hands and walked forward, "Please don't do it." Minerva pleaded.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, "Are you just going to sit back and watch?"

"Aerith says I have to, if I ever want a chance at being a goddess again, I'll have to stay out of harms way." she said.

"Well how would she know? She wasn't the one in charge of the planet." Jenova walked forward and heard Minerva following behind reluctantly. "Minerva, you don't have to." she said without looking back.

"I just have to make sure you don't die." she said, "I won't fight but…" She placed her hand on Jenova's shoulder, "Once I saw you take over Briana's body, I locked your ability to use your powers. But if you really want to do this, then I can't stop you." Her body felt cold suddenly and she turned to her friend.

"You told me I could never get them back, that I gave them up." she said.

Minerva looked away guiltily, "Because I was going to kill you… I wanted to be able to do it as soon as possible." she said, "But your different now and I trust you."

Jenova smiled, "Alright then." she raced off towards the weapon, she needed to think a little about what she could do. She could barely remember her powers and she wondered if she could even use them as well as she could when she was her old self. She wasn't covered in tentacles anymore so she wasn't sure how much she could do but that didn't matter, she felt 100 percent stronger.

As she ran forward an idea popped into her brain, she could use a laser attack, she remembered using it before. She stopped and looked for an opening; she didn't want to hit anyone. The weapon looked at her and she smiled. She pointed the sword at it and waited, how did she use her powers again. "What are you doing?" Minerva asked.

"I can't remember how to use my powers." she said as she thought. Was she supposed to yell out the attacks or was it just supposed to happen? The sword in her and glowed and shook and she looked at it, "I think I got it." she said. Twin lasers shot from the sword and she felt her self pushed back from the force. It looked a little different from what she remembered. The blue lasers flew towards the weapon and exploded on contact. "Yeah, I got it." she confirmed.

"You didn't kill it." Minerva said. Jenova rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. You know I'm not strong enough to kill it in one blow." Jenova said with a glare, "I just need to get used to using my powers again." She ran forward into the fight.

"Was that you?" Zack asked.

"Yeah." she said with a nod.

"You weakened it; I don't think it will be able to do much now." They both turned their attention to the weapon; it was hovering above the ground.

"It's leaving!" Cloud shouted. Jenova watched it go.

"Should we let it get away?" she asked. Cloud shook his head and fired some sort of spell at it. Jenova watched the creature get higher before it disappeared into the sky. A small smile graced her lips for a second before it disappeared. "Where'd it go?" she asked. The group moved together but no one answered.

"I think to regenerate or something, which is good because we certainly were not prepared to take it on anytime soon." Tifa said.

"So it's back to the bar to prepare right? Or should we go somewhere away from town?" Zack asked, "We don't want to risk it coming back again do we?"

"No, but the only place away from people I can think of is healen lodge. But Rufus is there, I don't know if we could all stay there." Cloud said. Minerva rushed up to them.

"Why'd you let it go?" she asked.

"We had too, we were on our last legs and it'd barely been 30 minutes." Tifa said, "Right now we need to get somewhere away from town and fight them. It's unsafe to keep leading them here." Minerva nodded.

"Well, we better go before it comes back then." Jenova said. She handed Cloud his sword and waited. Everyone stared at her, "What?" she asked.

"You gave it back?" Cloud asked.

"Well what was I going to do with it?" she asked, "Oh I see, you wanted me to attack you with it."

"Well no… but really I expected you to make an escape or something, your fast enough to do it." Cloud said. Jenova stared at him in confusion. It seemed like he wanted her to make a break for it, they were pretty much giving her the opportunity to. "Um, let's go, Tifa can get on the helicopter with me and I can call Reno, he can take you in his helicopter." Jenova nodded and smirked inwardly. Cloud must have really been anxious to trust her; he hadn't tried to attack her yet. Then again, Cloud never attacked her before until she attacked him. Maybe that's what he was waiting for.

They obviously didn't trust her completely, but she was sure that in a few weeks time, she'd have them all. Really, she had the appearance of an innocent teenager and she certainly acted immature sometimes. They'd see eventually that she was on their side. "Reno said he stepped on my chocobo." she said.

Tifa shook her head, "The little black one? I think I saw that in Marlene's hands when Aerith led them away." she said.

"See, I told you he was fine." Zack said.

"Uh huh, so when do I get him back?" she asked, "I bet he misses me."

"I doubt it; you're not exactly any animal's number one choice." Minerva said, "But that chocobo looked evil too so…"

"Hey… he loves me." she said, "Your just jealous because you don't have one." Jenova looked back to Cloud; he looked confused, as if he hadn't expected this to ever happen. And who did? Who could have possibly imagined Heaven's Dark Harbinger chatting innocently about a baby chocobo?

"Right," Cloud interrupted, "Reno will be here in a minute." Cloud walked over to his motorcycle and deposited his swords.

"Aerith says you changed, she said she could feel that you have more good in you then bad." Tifa says, "Aerith always made the right choices before so I don't see why she can't be trusted now."

"Aerith can feel these things?" Jenova asked skeptically.

"She is a Cetra after all." Zack said absently.

Jenova turned to Minerva, "You're a Cetra too, can you feel me?" she asked. Minerva shook her head.

"No, I'm not in tune with people, just the planet." she said, "and that abilities disappearing." she added quietly.

"You're a Cetra?" Tifa asked.

Minerva nodded, "I'm sure Aerith could explain it better then me." Minerva said, "She seems to know more then me at the moment." They chatted for a few more minutes before Reno arrived with the chopper.

"Well, well, well, everyone seems so trusting of the mutant." Reno said as the noise from the blades died down, "What could I possibly have missed…yo." Jenova couldn't understand why he added that last word, or why he smirked at Tifa, but she didn't try. She was too busy glaring him down for lying about Benny. "Well? Ya gonna get in?"

"Gonna's not a real word." Jenova mumbled childishly, "And I'm not mutant." Reno ignored her and waited for them to get in. Minerva got in first and Zack pushed her towards the door. "I'm going." she muttered. She reluctantly got into the helicopter and sat between the two of them. The helicopter blades started to spin and the slowly started to rise into the sky. It was time to meet Rufus Shinra.

X.x.X.x.X


	12. Chapter 12

**_Reuploaded chapter, Beta'd by DreadPirateSephy_**

_Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy 7_

Deep in her mind, Jenova floated in a sea of darkness. She couldn't feel a thing and she was glad for that.

In the helicopter she'd been anxious. Her enemies had caught her. Sure, she had gone with them willingly; she could admit that. But she had not realized what she was doing until they were in the air.

"Idiot…" she murmured to herself. Her words echoed through the darkness. How could she have been so stupid? She had been so anxious to be trusted that she did what they asked. She gave Cloud back her only weapon, she stayed and chatted when she should have run, she even got into a helicopter with Reno. A helicopter that would, no doubt, take her to a man who wanted to lock her up without thought.

And Minerva, she would just watch. She could pretend she was concerned, but Jenova knew she wasn't. She hadn't said a word to her since they boarded the flying machine. But, of course, she had leaned over her to mumble things to Zack.

A throbbing pain started in her temple and she sighed. She had no idea what was happening to her in the real world. Perhaps she was screaming from a painful headache. "No, not possible," she whispered; there were no memories. Each headache was always couple with a few memories.

'_Sephiroth' _A voice flew through her ear. It whispered the name and made her shudder. This must have been how he felt when she'd taken his fragile mind at Nibelheim. She almost felt bad for him. How long had he been locked in his mind while she drove him to do things he would never think of?

And the headaches, he had felt them throughout his childhood, when she would whisper to him and promise him a future with her. But then she'd change the subject. She would make him feel the pain that would come if he ever betrayed her.

'_Mother? Wake up now, Mother." _Jenova thrashed in the darkness as her mind was ripped from it's quiet haven. She didn't want to wake up, not yet. She tried to find the owner of the voice, so she could tell him to be quiet, but the darkness would not let her move. It rebelled against her as she tried to lift her arms.

She gave up and sighed, "Don't wake me up yet. . . I like it here," she ordered.

"Are you angry Mother?" It was a child, a child was calling her mother. All of her "children" had been adults. Except of course Kadaj, but he was still to old to be the owner of the voice.

"No, I guess I'm not," she answered, "Where are you? Will you come closer?" she asked.

"I can't… you're in that black goo," the child said sadly. "And these chains are too heavy."

"Oh," she replied. She wasn't sure what was going on, "Who are you?"

"Mother? Are you okay? It's me, Sephiroth," the child answered. She barely had time to think before she was hit with a wave of pain. The fact that she was suspended in 'goo' became painfully apparent as she woke up. She thrashed and screamed as she became more aware of reality. The goo seeped into her mouth and she struggled to spit it out.

She wanted to cry for help, but who would she ask? Certainly not whoever put her in the goo. "Are you hurting? I'll tell them to let you out," 'Sephiroth' said. Jenova lashed out and felt something solid; perhaps it was the glass that was keeping her in there. She drew her hands back and tried to slam them against the glass. The goo, naturally, slowed this down to the point where it did nothing.

"Mother?"

"Stop calling me that!" she screamed. She immediately closed her mouth again, she was drowning in the goo and there seemed to be no one there to help.

"Minerva! Mother is dying!" 'Sephiroth' cried desperately.

There was noise, footsteps most likely. "Reeve, you said she wouldn't get hurt!" That was the ever-so-concerned Minerva speaking. She assumed she would be happy about that, but in said situation, she couldn't even bring herself to care.

"Release the liquid. It's starting to harm her," an unknown man said, "She might have been in there to long. I'm not a scientist though." There was a hiss and the goo began to disperse. Jenova spit out the goo as soon as her head was clear.

She wiped her face clear of the substance and opened her eyes, "Mother? Are you okay now?" she sighed, it must have been in her head because there was no sign of a little boy in the room.

"Do you think it worked?" the man asked.

"She looks pretty calm." Minerva answered.

Another hiss and Jenova realized she was naked. She covered herself nervously and turned towards the door that had just opened, "Minerva?" Her voice was strangely even and calm, "Where are my clothes?"

"I didn't want them dirty so we took them off." Minerva walked towards her with a bundle of clothes and a towel. Jenova took the towel and began to rid her body of the black goo. "Now, I promised Zack we'd talk with Rufus as soon as you were well enough to, so we'll have to go."

"Right." Jenova pulled on her clothes and looked at Minerva, "You know, I think I'm hearing things."

"Like what?" Minerva asked.

"This little boy, he keeps calling me Mother." Jenova shuddered, "I hate that name."

"You do?" Jenova turned her attention to the unknown man. She didn't recognize him, but he probably knew about her.

"That's Reeve Tuesti." Minerva introduced him, "He's letting us all stay at the WRO base while we sort this out."

"Yeah, nice to meet you," she mumbled, "Why was I in a test tube?"

"It's not a test tube, it's a stabilization tank." Minerva explained, "They said it would stop your headaches and you could sleep until we figured things out."

"Like whose prison to lock me in?" she asked coldly.

"No-" Minerva started.

"No is right! I was already locked away for 2,000 years. I'd sooner face WEAPON myself before I let you throw me into another prison," she growled. She stomped towards the door. She knew she wouldn't get very far, but she didn't want to be in that room anymore.

"Wait!" Jenova's hand touched the doorknob, "Don't go!" she turned and blinked. There was the boy she'd been hearing.

"Please Mother, I want to come, too," he pleaded. His cat-like green eyes widened with the fear of being left behind. "I want to come," he repeated.

"Erm. . . Minerva?" she turned back towards her fiend, "Could you maybe. . . explain this?"

"He appeared after you started to scream. Reno was sure you conjured him up or something," Minerva said. "He really just walked through the door with a toy sword. He demanded that you be freed so you could rule the cosmos together before breaking down into tears once her realized no one feared him in his tiny body."

"He threw a tantrum, so we put him in here. That calmed him down." Reeve explained.

"This. . . is Sephiroth?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, he is," Minerva answered.

"Mother?" the boy called, "You won't leave me right?"

"Haven't you told him that I'm not his mother?" Jenova asked. She didn't want to be saddled with any unnecessary weight.

"We've tried, but he's only 6. You're the only mother he knows," Reeve said.

"6?" Jenova questioned, "Kid, how did you get here?" It didn't make sense… If Sephiroth had stolen a body like she had, why hadn't he chosen an older one? Why some little kid?

"I came from you," Sephiroth exclaimed, "I was in a dark scary place and I couldn't hear you. I thought you stopped talking to me. I was sad. . . but then I heard you again! Except you sounded hurt, so I came to help you. I followed your voice until I was here." He moved his arms, which Jenova noticed were shackled. "But my brothers couldn't come. We'll have to go back for them."

"Brothers?" Jenova questioned, "You mean the remnants?"

"No. Kadaj and Loz and Yazoo," Sephiroth explained, "They're really little so they couldn't walk to your voice. Loz could, but I made him stay and watch the babies."

"Oh man. . . Minerva? What do I do?" she asked.

"Mother?" Sephiroth grabbed her attention again, "I came all this way. . . Do you still want me?"

'_Why? Why don't you want me mommy' _Jenova shuddered and closed her eyes; she hoped that didn't call forth any new memories. "Yes, Sephiroth. I still want you," she replied. Her voice sounded a lot more loving then she could ever remember it being. Sephiroth's hands slipped out of the shackles and her ran over to her.

"Then we should get my brothers. I bet they're scared." Sephiroth took her hand and turned to Minerva, "Can we go talk to Cloud now?"

"Yes, let's go." Minerva opened the door and led the way. Jenova followed slowly, she absently squeezed Sephiroth's hand. This was the moment that would decide her fate.

X.x.X.x.X

Jenova took a seat between Zack and Minerva. Sephiroth climbed onto her lap and wrapped her arms around himself like a seatbelt. He looked scared, maybe because he was completely at the mercy of his enemies.

"You're trying to tell me there are more?" Tifa asked, "Babies?"

"Y-Yes. . ." Sephiroth stuttered, "Kadaj and Yazoo are really babies, but Loz is 5."

"So now she's conjuring up remnants?" Reno asked, "And you guys trust her?"

"No one trusts her, and this just gives us another reason not too," Cloud said. Jenova frowned, she had nothing to do with Sephiroth coming back, yet they were ready to blame her.

"How come?" Sephiroth asked, "I came here by myself."

"But you wouldn't have if this mutant didn't throw that fit a few hours ago," Reno mumbled.

"But I've been here for days." Sephiroth said, "Because I couldn't find her."

"You mean, those babies have been alone for days?" Jenova asked.

"Only 3 days." Sephiroth said, "But there are a lot of fruits there."

"We have to get them." Tifa sighed, "Reeve, do you think we could get a group of people to search for them?"

"You don't have to look, I know where they are," Sephiroth said. "Mother, tell them!"

Everyone looked to Jenova and she sighed, "I guess he knows. Take him with you," she said.

Reeve nodded. "I'll have a group formed right away." He gestured to a soldier standing near the door. "Take the boy to find the others. Bring them here unharmed."

Jenova pushed Sephiroth off of her lap and he turned to her, "Aren't you coming too?" he looked nervous.

"No, I have to stay here," she replied.

"But. . ."

"Sephiroth, you have to find your brothers before it's too late. I'll probably be here when you get back." Jenova nodded towards the door, "It shouldn't take too long."

"Okay…" Sephiroth mumbled.

"Don't mumble, it's rude." She sighed, "The sooner you go, the sooner you can get back, okay?" Sephiroth perked up and nodded, he rushed to the soldier and took his hand.

"Come on!" he led the man down the hall.

"Ha. . ." Zack started, "That's adorable. I always imagined Seph would be a mama's boy!"

"And Jenova, you act just like my mom around him." Minerva added, "It's weird."

Jenova rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. She tried to pretend she didn't care but the faint blush on her cheeks gave her away. "We should get back to the problem."

"You mean the fact that you and those demon spawns keep coming back?" Reno mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess?" she was pretty sure that they were talking about something else, but anything was good as long as they weren't talking about her parenting skills.

Jenova looked up and locked eyes with Rufus Shinra. He narrowed his eyes at her and she instantly felt uncomfortable. Rufus shouldn't have had anything against her; the only bad thing she'd done to him was give him Geostigma, but he was cured now so he had no room to complain. "I suggest we lock her away," Rufus said.

"That wouldn't benefit anyone," Cloud said.

"The hell do you mean? Locking her up will benefit everybody!" Reno cried.

"No, if we leave them in a prison, Sephiroth and the remnants will just begin to harbor dark feelings for the world," Tifa pointed out. "They might get angry at us for taking their newly found 'mother' away."

"Do you think they'll grow to be as strong as they were before?" Zack asked, "They surely aren't a threat right now."

"Of course not," Reeve nodded, "But if this isn't treated right, they might become a hazard."

"What do you suggest we do?" Rufus asked, although his tone was far from caring. He wanted her locked away and wasn't willing to consider anything else.

"They will be monitored closely in Edge," Reeve replied.

"Why not here? It's a lot more secure," Rufus said.

"There are no rooms here available for a family to live in. She will have to stay in an apartment near Tifa's bar," Reeve explained. "But she will be under close observation. The moment she steps out of line, we'll take her in."

"But should we risk it?" Rufus asked.

"I don't see why not, it's not like she can do anything," Zack said. "We've all seen her fight. She sucks; all she knows how to do is run."

"Now, what about the WEAPONS? How do we go about fighting them?" Minerva asked.

"Well, we'll all need training. It's been a while since any of us have fought. I suggest-" Cloud stopped, "Do you hear that?"

It started low but became louder as whatever made the noise came closer. "Is that—"

"Mommy! We're here!"

Jenova's eyes widened and she rubbed her temples. "Fuck," she mumbled.

"Mother? Don't mumble, it's rude." Sephiroth said.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"_Don't go away. I don't want to be alone…"_

A chubby boy rushed into the room. He stumbled on his shoe laces which seemed far too long and happened to be untied. He reached he and grabbed her arm. "Mommy," he breathed, "I found you." He sounded happy as he pressed his sweaty forehead onto her arm.

She grimaced but didn't pull away "That's lovely," she said.

"Yeah." Loz nodded and stood up straight. He tightened his grip on her arm and stared up at her, "And Yazoo and Kadaj are here too."

"Hurray," she said with very little enthusiasm. Did this boy really think she was his mother? He hadn't had parents before, maybe he was just desperate. "You know, you don't have to call me mom," she told him. Loz pretended he didn't hear that.

"You know, Mommy, I missed you," Loz said. How could he miss someone he never knew? The only proof he had that she actually existed was her mindless rants and endless screeching in his head. And who wanted a mother like that?

'_You would have.'_

Yes, she would have. Her mother hadn't wanted to look twice at her. She would have loved it if she would have talked to her for hours. Maybe her old feelings were what was influencing the remnants. She'd wanted her mother's love her entire life, and so did they.

"Sir, what should we do with the children?" a soldier asked. Jenova looked up and noticed a man holding a baby. He looked small. Maybe it was Kadaj.

"Give them to their mother," Reeve said. Jenova frowned as the soldier pretty much shoved the baby into her arms. Another soldier gave a second baby to Minerva.

"Wow, Jenova, you have some adorable kids," Zack said.

"Shut up," she snapped.

"I don't get it." Reno spoke up, "Why would you summon a bunch of babies to help destroy the planet?"

"I didn't." Jenova rolled her eyes. There was no getting through to him.

"If you didn't summon them, how did they get here?" Reno asked.

"I don't know," she answered simply. She wanted to ignore him but that would just draw her attention back to the squirming child in her arms.

"How soon can we have this apartment? We need a place for these kids to sleep and there's no room at the bar for them," Tifa cut in. "Unless they sleep in the basement."

"We could always get a hotel room," Aerith suggested.

"No need, I can have one ready in a few hours," Reeve assured them. "We can find something to do with them for a few hours."

"Yeah, maybe we can eat something," Zack suggested.

"Yeah, like pizza!" Loz cried excitedly. "Wouldn't that be nice, Mommy?"

"Yeah…" she agreed. She hadn't really had pizza before. The last few weeks she'd been eating nothing but scraps and what not. She was hungry, too.

"Can we have pizza, brother?" Loz asked.

"Brother?" Jenova raised an eyebrow at that? Were they still referring to Cloud as brother? She looked to Cloud for an answer.

"Just Cloud," he said, "And sure."

"Mommy!" Loz shook her arm roughly, "Did ya hear that?"

"Yeah, how about you stop that?" she pulled her arm away. Kadaj grabbed on to her hair and pulled.

"I have a cafeteria down near the lobby, why don't we eat there?" Reeve asked.

"Yea," Reno agreed, "I could use some grub right about now." He stood up and headed for the door. Cloud and Tifa followed and Zack stood as well.

"Minerva? Can babies eat pizza?" she asked.

"No, you idiot. They don't even have teeth. Get them some mashed potatoes or something," Minerva said.

"Wow, rude much?" Jenova stood and followed the crowd out of the door. They trailed far behind the group and Jenova sighed, "You know, I really didn't want any of this…" she muttered.

"I know, but we need help," Minerva replied. "At least until the weapons are gone. Then we can disappear."

"We?" Jenova looked down at Kadaj. "You aren't going back to the planet?" she asked.

"Ah, I don't think I can. . ." Minerva sighed, "Aerith and I talked and it doesn't seem possible."

Jenova nodded; was she happy about that? She had been scared that Minerva was going to leave her behind, but now that she couldn't… "Minerva? I'm-" she swallowed. What was she about to do? Apologize? For what?

"I'm not mad about this though," Minerva said. "I've been alive for thousands of years, and I've been feeling really guilty about what I did to you." Minerva repositioned Yazoo in her arms, "But you're my best friend, and we can finally be together again. Once the weapons are destroyed, at least. We'll even have these kids around."

"I don't like kids, Minerva," Jenova reminded her. "And I have no idea how to care for them."

"You'll learn," Minerva assured her. "Once you've been with them for a while, it'll come naturally."

Jenova rolled her eyes, "I don't want kids!" she snapped. Sephiroth turned around and raised his eyebrows at her.

"But Jenova… You have a family now. Haven't you always wanted one?" Minerva asked. Jenova shrugged. Sure, when she was a child. All she wanted was a family that loved her. She didn't want to be an outcast. And she technically had one now. Minerva and the children. Why was she complaining?

'_It'll get in the way of our main goal'_

Her main goal was supposed to be to destroy Minerva and if she had to, she would destroy the planet too. But she didn't want that anymore. She had a second chance and she didn't want to give that up.

'_But the choice is not yours anymore'_

She felt her hold on Kadaj tighten and she blinked. It was like someone else was controlling her. "Don't hold him too tight Jenova, you'll hurt him," Minerva said.

She heard laughter in her mind and her grip on Kadaj loosened. "Mommy? Can I sit with you?" Loz came over to her. Jenova nodded and entered the cafeteria. It was empty, but it reminded her of her old cafeteria from school. The one filled with kids that hated her very existence.

"Come on J! Right here." Zack gestured for her to come over and she did. She sat down and sat Kadaj on the table. He giggled and reached for her hair. "You really make some adorable kids, Jenova."

"Shut up, Zack," she groaned.

"That's it? No sarcastic comment?" Zack asked, "Should I be worried?"

"I'm tired," she said, "Way too tired to think of insults. I just want to sleep." Loz and Sephiroth sat right across from her with Cloud and Tifa on both sides of them. Sephiroth looked at them nervously before looking at her. She shrugged; it's not like Cloud would just kill a kid. Sure, this kid was Sephiroth but Cloud wasn't that cold hearted when it came to him.

"I'll have someone serve us; this isn't a 5-star restaurant but it will do," Reeve said.

"Marlene and Denzel will be home soon… I should probably get going," Tifa announced.

"Right, I'll stay here in case something happens." Cloud nodded. Jenova watched them interact and briefly wondered if Cloud was in love with Tifa. They looked like they'd make a good couple, and they lived together too.

Jenova blinked and felt her body slump over the table. Her head fell into Kadaj's lap and the boy began to bang on it as if it was a drum. "Come on kid, stop that." She yawned. She didn't want to fall asleep here, not in front of her enemies, but she couldn't help it. Her consciousness was slipping away and she could do nothing to stop it.

0.o.0.o.0

When she awoke, it was silent. She smiled at that and stayed completely still. She had no idea where she was, but she was still sleepy. "Mother? It's cold in our room," she heard Sephiroth say. She blinked and looked up.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Our apartment. You can see a lot from the window," Sephiroth replied. "It reminds me of my room at Shinra HQ."

Jenova sat up and sighed. "And where's Minerva?" she asked.

"She put Yazoo and Kadaj to sleep and fell asleep on the couch," Sephiroth answered. Jenova gestured for him to come over to her and he came. He sat down next to her and leaned on her arm, "Zack said we have to go to school now. If we want to live normal lives we have to act like everyone else."

"Hmm, of course," she said. They sat in silence for at least a minute before she looked over to him. "How did you really get here, Sephiroth," she asked seriously. "Don't lie to me."

"Well. . .I. . ." Sephiroth shrugged. "I told you. After I died, I fell into darkness. I was there for a while when Yazoo and Loz came too. They told me that Aerith had taken Kadaj from them. They told me about how you tried to destroy Cloud again. And how you used Kadaj to remake my body. I was kind of mad at you."

"And then what?"

"Kadaj appeared. He said he escaped the life stream once he realized you weren't there. He was sad." Sephiroth took a breath, "But suddenly, after a long silence… We heard your voice."

"My voice? What was I saying?" she asked.

"You were talking to Minerva about how she lied to you and stuff," Sephiroth said. "That's when I realized that we were in your head. It was dark for a while because you had no host."

"You think so?" she asked. Sephiroth nodded and cleared his throat.

"We started seeing all of your memories. Even the really bad ones. It was scary to watch, but we had to." Sephiroth sighed. "But then I heard Cloud and Reno. They wanted to put you in a tank. So we decided to leave your mind and help you."

"But why did you come back as kids? I don't understand it," Jenova sighed. "How much help did you think you could be as a six year old?"

"I didn't think it would happen like this! We ran around the darkness, following the voices until we saw light. I guess we weren't strong enough though because we appeared as little kids. And we were really far away from you. In Aerith's church." Sephiroth said glumly.

"I get it," she told him. The boy clinging to her was what remained of Sephiroth's soul, She'd split him into 3 pieces and fractured him even more to make the remnants. When they died, they took refuge in her mind since they'd been rejected from the life stream. By Minerva of course, she though bitterly. When they escaped to help her, their fractured forms created a body that would be able to hold them. Children.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you," he said sadly.

Jenova swung her legs out of bed and got up. She wanted to talk to Minerva. "Mother?" Sephiroth questioned.

"Don't worry about it, kid, I'm not mad at you," she assured him., "Go to bed." Sephiroth nodded and watched her leave the room. She closed the door behind her and saw Minerva on the couch. "Hey, get up," she hissed.

Minerva opened her eyes and yawned. "Jenova? It's really late."

"I have a question." She stood in front of her friend. "Why didn't you let Sephiroth into the life stream?"

"Huh?" Minerva sat up. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I want to know. Why wasn't his soul allowed to rest when he died in Nibelheim?" she asked.

"I didn't reject him, Jenova. The human parts of him were welcomed. Your cells are the reason he wasn't able to full merge with the life stream. On top of that, his will was far too strong. He felt like he failed you and wanted to help you as much as he could. So he learned some things about the world and decided that if he made himself into a god-like man, he would be able to help you." Minerva went on, "The remnants were all made up from the remains of his soul, the part that didn't go into the life stream. That's why they weren't able to be absorbed."

"Ah, so this is my fault?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Minerva yawned, "Now go to bed."

"I'm not sleepy," she lied. She was exhausted really, but she didn't want to go back to bed.

Minerva turned her back to her and ignored her. "Stare at the ceiling then, I'm tired." She yawned again and Jenova rolled her eyes. Maybe she'd take a walk outside or something. "Don't leave the apartment," Minerva said suddenly.

"Huh?" Jenova narrowed her eyes, "Why not?"

"I can feel them again! I can feel every last WEAPON again!" She sat up, "And they're really close! Except for Emerald, but the others are all close! What if they try to attack at the same time? We can't handle that Jenova! Not even Cloud and everyone else can!" Minerva stood up and began to pace the living room, "Maybe I can talk to them? Bri has to listen to me; I'm a goddess! She has to."

"Minerva, stop it. They can't be that close," Jenova said.

"Oh, this is bad! What if they attack the building? The kids wouldn't survive and. . ." Minerva bit her lip. "I need to call Aerith."

"Keep it down then." Jenova sat down on the couch and watched her friend frantically dial a number into a phone. Sephiroth came out of the room and sat next to her, "I thought I told you to go to bed," she sighed.

"I heard Minerva; she sounded worried." Sephiroth yawned, "What's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Jenova watched Minerva slam the phone down.

"Take the kids down to the cellar, Cloud wants us to leave town again," Minerva announced.

"I want to come with you," Sephiroth said.

"Sephiroth, I'm sorry, but you can't." Minerva sighed.

"No, Mother, tell her I'm coming too." Sephiroth looked up to her with pleading eyes. He didn't want to be left alone there.

"You can't. You have to stay here and protect your brothers, alright? I'll be back soon." Jenova stood. "Now help me get Yazoo and Kadaj, alright?"

"But Mother-"

"No buts, just do as I say," she said firmly. "You act like I'm asking you to jump off of a cliff."

Sephiroth crossed his arms and shook his head, "I have to come with you. I can help you," he insisted.

"What about your brothers? What if someone tries to hurt them while we're gone?" Minerva asked, "Jenova has Cloud and Zack to protect her; your brothers will need you."

Sephiroth stood and frowned. "But I want to come too..." he mumbled.

"I'll be back. Just hurry and get down to the cellar." Jenova pushed him towards the rooms and the boy went to wake Loz. She followed him and noticed Yazoo and Kadaj in separate cribs. She lifted Yazoo out of the crib and looked to Kadaj, "Minerva! We need help here."

"Coming. We need to hurry. They're getting closer." She picked up Kadaj and rushed for the door. "You two, get blankets," she ordered. Loz yawned and pulled the blanket from his bed. Sephiroth pushed his younger brother towards the door and Minerva rushed out into the hall. Jenova followed quickly they hurried into the cellar.

"Minerva, calm down," she said. She looked around for a place to set Yazoo down and could only find empty crates. "Loz, put the blanket down and hold Yazoo for me," she requested. Loz dropped the blanket and took the baby from her. She positioned the crates and draped the blanket over them. "Minerva? Can we put them here?" she asked.

"Yes, that's good." She placed Kadaj in the make-shift crib and Loz put Yazoo in the other one.

"Now stay here, we've got to go." Jenova stood up straight and headed for the door

"Wait mommy!" Loz held out his arms. Jenova felt her eye twitch as he came over and hugged her. "Come back soon okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Jenova nodded. She followed Minerva out of the cellar and closed the door after her. "Where are we going?"

"Outside of town, just to keep the civilians safe," Minerva replied.

"Okay, I need some action anyway," Jenova said. "I've been bored lately."

"I'm going to try to speak to Bri, Jenova. It'll take a lot of energy so I'll need you to watch out for me," Minerva said. "Can I trust you?"

"No." Jenova smirked. "But if you don't want those weapons to kill everyone, then you'll have too."

"Right. Come on." Minerva started to run and Jenova started after her.

"Sucks that you can't teleport anymore!" She laughed as she picked up speed. Minerva smiled and tried to keep up.

"Who cares? I have a ride." She felt Minerva jump onto her back and she stumbled.

"Minerva, what the hell!" she shouted. She wasn't angry at her, in fact she was happy, "This is the last time I'm doing this," she said firmly. She came to a stop directly outside of town and Minerva got down.

"This is too close, Jenova," she said.

"Then we should get walking. I want to try out my powers and stuff and I can't do that while running.

"Right, me too," Minerva said, "I don't really have any though."

"Because you're human?" Jenova asked curiously.

"Maybe." Minerva sighed. "I wish I could still teleport. I feel really useless."

"I think you can, if you can feel WEAPON again. You can-" Jenova paused and narrowed her eyes. She looked past Minerva towards a red speck on the horizon. It was dark, but she knew what it was. "If you want to talk to Bri, there she is."

Minerva paled and turned towards the speck, "Can you take me closer?" she asked slowly.

"Of course, but I can't fight that well," Jenova replied. "Although Zack did say I was good at running." She allowed Minerva to climb onto her back and ran. Her heart raced as she willingly moved closer to the weapon. She had no means of defense and she had no idea where Zack and the others were. "Minerva? Is this close enough?" She stopped.

"Yeah." Minerva got down and closed her eyes, "Don't leave me here. I'll be really far out of my body if things go right and I'll need you to get my body to safety."

"Right," Jenova said. She looked towards Ruby weapon and things suddenly went black.

0.o.0.o.0

Beta'd by DreadPirateSephy

So the SHM are here, but I doubt they'll play a big roll in the actual plot. Of course Sephiroth will, he's really important and he's still a brainwashed little mama's boy right now. I'd say a chunk of his non-Jenova related memories are in the lifestream so I can't tell you exactly how much he remembers his friendships with Zack and the other firsts.

And Jenova, she's not as manipulative as she was in the other games yet. I suppose it doesn't benefit her yet. Cloud still has Jenova cells in him and so does Zack, it would be easy to trick them into something. But, that wouldn't work out in her favor.

Another thing, the word count thing on this site is strange. It tells me the chapter is 2,000 or so words long and when I edit it to add a word or two, the word count jumps 200 hundred words sometimes, how is this possible?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Sephiroth crossed his arms and glared at the cellar floor. He'd just found his mother and now she was gone again! Really, did she hate him that much? "She might be mad at us," Loz said.

Sephiroth shook his head; there was no way his mother was mad at him. "She doesn't seem angry..." he mumbled. But he wasn't used to seeing her in human form; maybe that's why he couldn't tell. "But what if she is?" he asked. A wave of worry washed over him as he thought about the nights of endless headaches he'd be put through if she really was angry with him.

"We should make her a pizza," Loz suggested. Sephiroth rolled his eyes; Loz was just hungry.

"She doesn't like pizza," Sephiroth sighed.

"She's never had it! How do we know if she don't like it if she's never had it?" Loz questioned.

"Doesn't. How do we know if she doesn't like it," Sephiroth corrected.

"Don't you correct me! I said it like that on purpose," Loz snapped. Sephiroth shook his head. He was not going to fight with Loz today. Right now, Mother was in danger fighting huge monsters, and he needed to help her.

"Stay here Loz. I'm going to find mother," he commanded.

"You can't tell me what to do! I want to come to," Loz protested.

"And what about Yazoo and Kadaj? Who will watch them?" Sephiroth asked, "They can't watch themselves."

"Why do you always get to find Mommy?" Loz asked. He dipped his head and crossed his arms, "It's not fair," he whined. Sephiroth rolled his eyes at the boy. This was not a time for crying!

"Shut up, Loz." Sephiroth sat down and started to think. Maybe he could wait for Loz to fall asleep and sneak out. He could hurry and find mother like he did before and rescue her. Then again, she was fighting a WEAPON. He remembered seeing them when he had manifested in the Northern Crater. They were large and without a doubt, strong. He couldn't save her. Not in this small body.

"You know, I like our house. I never had a house before, but that's okay," Loz said suddenly.

"This is an apartment, Loz," Sephiroth said. "And I've never had a house either." Sephiroth's head ached as soon as he thought about his past. He couldn't remember most of it and whenever he tried to dig through his memory, he started to get a headache. He didn't like headaches; they just reminded him of all the times he had failed his mother. _'She isn't your mother...'_

Sephiroth jumped. It was Mothers' voice, the one he'd heard before. She sounded nothing like the mother he was worrying over now, "Mother?" he gulped and closed his eyes.

_'My son, she is not your mother. She fights with the humans and has forgotten about you.'_

Sephiroth shook his head; his mother did not forget him. She was fighting those monsters to keep him safe. She was only working with Cloud because she couldn't fight the monsters by herself. Once they were done, she was going to take them all and live somewhere far away where Cloud couldn't get to them.

_'How do you know she won't just let you die again?'_

Fear rippled through him as he thought of all three times he had died. He didn't want to die again; it would hurt too much. "Hey, Sephiroth! What's wrong?" Loz shook him roughly, "Are you hearing voices again?"

"No..." Sephiroth lied, but Loz wasn't convinced. He'd known Sephiroth for a few months and he knew when that woman was speaking to his older brother.

"She's not our mother Sephiroth; we found our mom," Loz said.

Sephiroth nodded. He knew that this voice was the alien Jenova's lingering thoughts and nothing more. His mother was the teenage girl outside who was fighting with Cloud.

_'No!_' the alien screeched in his ears and he fell down. She was doing it to him again. It felt as if someone was hitting him with a sledge hammer in the head constantly. He covered his ears as if that would make the screeching stop, but that only made it louder.

"Please! Stop!" he cried. He felt Loz take his shoulders and shake him.

"Leave my brother alone!" the younger boy screamed.

Sephiroth bit his lip and rolled away from his little brother; he didn't know how much longer he was going be in pain, but he did know that when his mother came home, she was going to make sure that the alien Jenova would leave them alone.

0.o.0.o.0

Jenova frowned as she found herself standing in darkness again. She was supposed to be watching Minerva while she attempted to talk with Brianna but no, she had to be sucked into darkness at the last minute.

When she came too, she was back in her mind. This time, she was alone. Her only thought was, "Oh shit," and that was seriously the only thing that she could think.

"Give it back!" a voice screamed. Jenova flinched and looked around. She was sure Bri was here somewhere, but she still couldn't see her.

"No way," she answered. The dying spirit of Brianna manifested in front of her and she stepped back. "Gross." She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the girl. She was skin and bone. Her very being seemed to be fading away. Jenova curled her hands into fists and narrowed her eyes. She was waiting for some sort of attack.

"Please! Give it back to me," Brianna shouted. It didn't sound like she was begging. More like she was demanding it. "I want to see Gary again! I want to see my mom!" Brianna cried out and stepped forward. Jenova felt a small pang of guilt for the girl. But that was instantly overshadowed by fierce jealousy. She wanted a family to go home to. She wanted a mom, a dad, and maybe even some little brothers, too.

"What if I took away your body? What would you do?" Brianna asked.

"Find another one. I've had several hosts, you know," she shrugged.

A familiar presence was felt and Jenova shuddered. "Minerva?" she called out.

"I'm almost there," her voice called back. Jenova looked around for any sign of Minerva, but she found none. A few seconds later, her image dimly flickered into existence. "I made it!" she said triumphantly, "But how did you get here before me?"

"I don't know," Jenova shrugged. "This stuff just happens."

Minerva nodded and turned to Brianna. Her eyes went soft and she looked down. "Oh my," she whispered. "Your soul is dying."

"Yes," Brianna answered. "Because of her." Brianna raised a skinny arm to Jenova. "She did this."

"I know," Minerva said sadly. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes." Brianna nodded. "I've seen you in our books at church." Minerva nodded; she knew the representations of her were different everywhere, but she could tell that Brianna could feel who she was.

"I can help you," she said. "But you have to stop this."

"I can't; I want my body back!" Brianna roared angrily.

"But I could never allow you to have it back if you continue to kill so many," Minerva countered.

"I've killed no one," Brianna said.

"But you have; you commanded the weapons, a task that is usually left to me, to find Jenova and kill her. In their wake, they've killed several people," Minerva argued. Brianna frowned and she looked to Jenova.

"I can't make them stop unless I get my body back," she said.

"And what happens if her soul dies before that?" Jenova asked.

"Then I guess this would end," Minerva said thoughtfully. "But I don't want her soul to die."

Jenova rolled her eyes; of course not! Minerva still cared for the people of the Planet. "Then what are you going to do?" Jenova asked.

"I don't know." Minerva shrugged. "But Brianna, if you don't stop this, I'll have to put a stop to it myself." Jenova shuddered at the tone of Minerva's voice. It was cold and unforgiving, "Let's go, Jenova."

0.o.0.o.0

When she returned to the real world she found herself to be in deep trouble. She was standing, holding Minerva while a beam of fire came hurtling her way. "Shit!" she jumped out of the way and tumbled to the ground. "Minerva?" She shook her friend as she stared up at the Weapon. "We made it angry."

Minerva opened her eyes and looked up at the giant red monster, "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to fight. I wanted to send her to the life stream," Minerva said. "Why wouldn't she go?"

"She doesn't want to die," Jenova shrugged. "Don't you understand? She's too scared to let go."

Minerva was silent as she sat up and dusted her shoulders. "No, I really don't. I've never been close to dying." She sighed. "But that's no excuse for what she's doing. I have to do my job. I need to help her get into the life stream."

"But you can't do that as a human," Jenova reminded her. She stood slowly and began to walk behind Ruby Weapon; she wanted to be out of its sights. Minerva followed quickly and looked up at its back. "Why are we alone? Where's Cloud?" she asked.

"He's on his way!" Jenova jumped at the voice and turned around. "Don't look so scared; it's just me!"

"Shut up Zack!" Jenova snapped. "I wasn't scared."

"Enough talking. I want you two to stay back there with Aerith; she'll tell you what to do." Zack pointed back to a set of jagged rocks where Aerith was standing. Jenova swallowed and walked towards them. She was a little nervous to be talking to Aerith, especially knowing the role she'd had in the girl's death. And now… Aerith was stronger than her and could get revenge…

"Hurry up; we need to get out of sight," Minerva said. She grabbed her hand and sped towards the rocks.

"Hello." Aerith waved to them and smiled sweetly. Jenova narrowed her eyes and waved back slowly. "Don't look so scared; I'm not going to bite your head off."

"I'm not scared," she said. "Just a little nervous."

"I understand; Ruby Weapon isn't a joke." Aerith nodded. Jenova nodded back, though she had a feeling Aerith knew what she was really nervous about. "Now, Zack doesn't want me to fight right now. Usually, I would object, but not this time."

"Why not?" Jenova asked.

"Because, someone needs to make sure you two do your job," Aerith said. "And who better than me?"

"Minerva?" Jenova suggested.

"She has kept you on a tight leash, hasn't she?" Aerith giggled. "But that's not the point." Jenova crouched down and glared up at Aerith. "Zack believes that I'm the only one who can teach you to use materia."

"We know how to use materia," Minerva said. "We just don't have any."

"And I can fix that." Aerith held out her hands. "Here; you'll need these." Jenova took one of the orbs in her hand and examined it.

"What is it?" she asked

"Cloud doesn't want to trust you with materia, but we came to the agreement that you can have Restore," Aerith said. "He wants you to heal them during the fight."

"Aw, really? That's it?" Jenova asked. "Can't we freeze it?" That usually worked with fire based enemies. You could freeze them or something and the battle would be over like that!

"No, Ruby Weapon absorbs Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth; it's also immune to Water and Gravity," Minerva explained. "If I remember correctly, the most they can do is paralyze it with Dazers and attack. But if they bring their own materia, they could do more damage. I don't know what they have with them, so I can't really tell them a strategy."

"Right, so we sit back and heal them?" Jenova glanced towards the monster. "Sounds simple."

"Don't relax too much. Ruby Weapon will aim a few attacks at you. It's better if you stay on guard the entire time," Aerith warned. Jenova stood up straight and nodded. "And don't be so afraid of me, I'm not that mad at you."

"Huh?" Jenova blinked. "Why not?"

"Because, unlike _somebody_, Aerith doesn't hold grudges," Minerva mumbled. Jenova glared at the blonde girl; she knew what she was referring to.

"Shut up," she snapped. "That's totally different."

"How?" Minerva asked.

Jenova remained silent; their situations were only slightly the same. Both of their lives had been ruined, but Aerith had been murdered while she got to live. "Shut up," she mumbled.

Aerith chuckled. "You two are so different when you're human," she observed. "I remember when you barely smiled at all, Minerva."

"She barely smiles now," Jenova said. "She just tells people what to do and tricks them into signing contracts."'

"I didn't trick you! You signed it yourself," Minerva protested. "You just didn't read what you were signing." Jenova rolled her eyes, but Minerva had a point. At the time, she had been desperate for survival and was ready to do anything.

"So what? You should have waited until I was in the right state of mind before you forced your contract on me," she said.

"You wouldn't have signed it if you knew what it said," Minerva shrugged.

"I still don't know what it says…" Jenova mumbled. "Am I ever going to get to read it?"

"I suppose so," Minerva agreed. "Maybe when we get back to the apartment."

"Really?" Jenova found herself getting far too excited than was actually necessary. "Just like that? You'll let me read it?"

"Well, you've already signed it and you can't destroy it," Minerva pointed out. "So why not?"

"Alright, after we put the boys to sleep you'll let me read it," she decided.

"Why after?" Aerith asked.

"Because Sephiroth will ask too many questions. He'll want to know why I would sign a contract with someone who was my enemy. He'll want to know why I didn't just run away when I had the chance and all that gumbo."

"Gumbo?" Aerith repeated. "That's like soup."

"Yeah, I think I tasted it once before," Jenova said. "But I don't know where. It was a long time ago."

She heard a shout from behind her and she looked back towards the battle. Cloud and Zack had Ruby Weapon's attention, but they didn't seem to be doing very well. They were being shot at with several blasts of concentrated heat, and it was obviously taking its toll on them.

"At least it isn't using Whirlsand," Minerva said. "I bet that would shoot them so far away that whoever was left wouldn't have a chance."

"It can't; there's no sand," Jenova observed. "Just rock."

"Which is good I suppose," Minerva said. "I think we should heal them now." Jenova nodded and pressed the Restore materia into her arm.

"How… does that feel?" Aerith asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Hm?" Jenova looked up at her. She mentally noted that Aerith was three inches taller then her; maybe it was her shoes, but either way, she didn't like having to look up to her. "It doesn't hurt at all. It's a little strange, but that's it."

"So it goes into your bone?" She asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I've never really thought much about it."

"Can you take it out?" Aerith asked, "Or is it stuck?"

"Yeah, I can." She pulled the green orb out of her arm and watched as Aerith's eyes widened in curiosity.

"Kadaj and the other…children could do it too," she said. She cast a spell towards Zack and Cloud. "But I never really asked them about it."

"Why not? Kadaj looked happy enough when you helped him into the life stream," Jenova said. "I'm sure he would have told you."

"No." Aerith shook her head. "He thought I was you; he only let himself be absorbed because he thought he could be with you." She smiled sadly. "He was also angry that I hadn't saved his brothers as well."

"So how did he return as a baby?" Jenova asked, "If he was already in the life stream… How did he get into my head? I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" Minerva asked.

"Sephiroth said he was in my head with the remnants," she explained. "He said they heard me screaming earlier today and he'd come to help me. But how? How could they have been in my head?"

"I don't know. The reason Sephiroth was able to come back before was because of the hate in Cloud's memories. Once Cloud let himself forget, Sephiroth began to disappear…" Aerith said. "But when you found another body, you started thinking of him. I think the only way they were able to come back was because you thought of them."

"Yeah, but only a little," Jenova mumbled. "I really didn't want them to come here."

"But why? Now you aren't alone," Aerith said. "It's hard to be alone..." she added softly. Jenova turned away guiltily. She was alone because she had killed the rest of the Cetra. Sure, all of her loneliness wasn't her fault but… most of it was.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Huh?" Minerva gasped. "What was that?"

"You heard me!" she snapped. "And I won't repeat myself." She felt her face heating up, "I never thought I'd see anyone directly affected by what I did," she admitted.

"Was the urge for revenge really that great?" Aerith asked. "Did you really have to kill so much?"

"Yes!" she replied, and the fierceness of it shocked her. "I don't understand why I needed to, but I did and I wouldn't stop until they were all gone." She felt herself getting angry. "I wanted her to regret what she caused…"

"But I did! Even before you came, I regretted it," Minerva said.

"Then why didn't you warn me?" Jenova curled her fists angrily. "Why did you let me go there? Why didn't you help me? You claim that I was your friend, but you let me go to that place…" Her knees wobbled and she felt she was about to fall. She leaned back against the rock and felt her anger melt into sadness. "At one point, I believed that you were just like the rest of them. You only pretended to be my friend and you went off and made fun of me with everyone else…" she breathed.

"But I didn't," Minerva said. "You were my friend, Jenova. My best friend."

"But you lied," she reminded her bitterly. "Like everyone else."

"I was…" Minerva stopped. "I can't make excuses for what I did. I know I was wrong. But I've been trying to make it right."

"I know," Jenova whispered. "But it's hard… to forgive you."

"I don't get it," Aerith spoke up. "What's happening?" Jenova looked her way and shrugged. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Like… therapy?" she asked.

"Oh yes!" Aerith's eyes lit up with excitement. "I'd love to help you two."

"Why?" Jenova looked away.

"Because you look like you're about to cry," Aerith shrugged. "And I bet Sephiroth wouldn't like it if you were sad."

"Yeah but, what do you get out of it?" she asked.

"Nothing, I suppose," Aerith said. "I don't always expect things for helping people." Jenova bit her lip. She didn't want to reveal anything that Aerith could use against her. That was the point, wasn't it? She was just trying to get information to send to Cloud…

"No thank you." She shook her head. "Now isn't the time." She looked to Minerva. "I'm sorry for freaking out like that."

"Don't worry about it. I-" She stopped and looked towards Ruby Weapon. "We should move. He's aiming at us now." Jenova sniffled and nodded. She stood up and followed her away from their hiding place to another group of jagged rocks. This new spot was a little closer to the battle.

"Is it almost dead?" Jenova asked Minerva, "Can you tell?"

"Give me a moment." Minerva kneeled down and closed her eyes. "I'm going to try and find out. I haven't been able to sense them that much, but maybe if I try… Look out for me?"

"Yeah, no problem." Jenova nodded. She watched Minerva's face go from strained to calm in mere seconds. "Do you know what she's doing?" she asked Aerith.

"Connecting with the planet? She looks like she'd praying but we'll never know unless we ask," Aerith smiled. Jenova shivered and looked away.

"Stop it," she hissed.

"Stop what?" Aerith asked innocently.

"Being so nice. We both know that I don't deserve it," Jenova said.

"Why not? Everyone deserves a second chance," Aerith replied.

"But I don't deserve one," Jenova said. "I wiped out an entire race of people!"

"Not the entire race," Aerith observed. "I'm still here. Minerva's still here. There are two Cetra left alive."

"I guess," Jenova mumbled. "But still, I don't deserve one."

"Does Sephiroth? Or the rest of them?" Aerith asked.

"Well, yeah," she answered automatically.

"Why?"

"Because they haven't done anything wrong," she replied. "I used them to get back at Minerva and that's not their fault."

"I see," Aerith said. Minerva stood up and shook her head.

"Brianna's life force is going out. I… need to help her somehow," she announced.

"Then do it," Jenova said, "Do whatever you have to do for her." She sat down and kept her eyes away from Aerith.

"What can we do for them?" Aerith asked.

"I tried to convince her to let go, but that wouldn't matter because her soul can't return to the planet until I return," Minerva said.

"So you have to kill yourself to become a goddess again?" Jenova asked.

"Unless I can find another way…" Minerva said. Jenova frowned; what would she do without Minerva? She couldn't raise those kids alone. She would ruin them again if she didn't have help. "I might have to let her soul go…"

"That wouldn't be very fair," Jenova found herself saying. "Can't you help her at all?"

"Feeling guilty?" Minerva asked.

"No," she answered quickly. "Never. I mean, I wouldn't have thought about it before. This planet would have been gone before I even had the chance to think about it." But then her memories had come and halted everything. She almost wondered what would have happened if she hadn't signed the contract. Minerva would have left her alone and… she would have survived. She wouldn't have made it to the ancient forest or had a meal that night, but she would have survived somehow. There were a lot of things that wouldn't have happened if Minerva hadn't let her sign the contract…

"I know what I can do!" Minerva said suddenly, and just as quickly as she finished the sentence, she had disappeared. Jenova scrambled to her feet and looked around. "What the hell happened?" she asked.

Aerith shrugged and stared at the spot where Minerva had been. "But I'm more then sure she knows what she's doing."

Jenova nodded and glanced towards the fight. Ruby weapon was gone… and so was everybody else. "Where did everyone go?" she asked. She looked to Aerith and was surprised when she didn't find her. "Aerith?" she called. "Guys?"

She twisted around and searched for someone, but there was no one there. "Minerva?" she whispered. She walked away from her hiding place and continued to call out for Minerva and the others. After a minute of walking she stopped; there was no one around. She turned back towards Edge; she would just go back there. But once she took a step forward, her vision went white and she felt nothing but pain.

0.o.0.o.0

Whoop, I is done! Huzzah! And i'm so sorry Sephiroth but this is only the beginning of your pain! Muahahahahaha! I hate writing battle scenes, I really do. I don't know how to describe anybodies skills or limits and it makes me angry. So I'm putting it off for as long as I can.(Which isn't long)


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